St Johnstone duo Dave Mackay and Murray Davidson are both ahead of schedule on their injury comebacks.
Perth boss Tommy Wright revealed yesterday that captain Mackay could be back in action in a few weeks, with Davidson also progressing quicker than had been anticipated.
He reported: “We will just ease Dave along but he’s ahead of schedule.
“At the moment it’s a case of monitoring it at the end of every week then seeing how much more we can push him on.
“Sometimes with major surgery you have little set-backs along the way, but ‘touch wood’ he’s been OK.
“He could be back in early September at this rate, with the progress he’s making it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s ready after the international break.”
Wright added: “Murray Davidson is coming along really well too. At first we thought it would be four months but it’s looking like less than that.
“He’s already back doing some straight line running so hopefully he’ll keep progressing and be back quicker than we thought.
“The pair of them are ahead of where we thought they’d be at this stage and there’s been no reaction. There’s still a lot of work ahead for them, though.”
There will be no short-cut back for Steven Anderson though.
“Ando has had his operation but he faces six weeks of rest because it’s all about the pressure behind his eye,” Wright pointed out.
“That was the problem, the fracture isn’t a huge problem but there has been a build up of pressure in his eye.
“So that’s why he had to get an operation and unfortunately it can’t be fast-tracked.”