A new training programme has been mapped out for St Johnstone midfielder Murray Davidson to address a knee injury, Perth boss Tommy Wright has revealed.
But the Saints manager insisted they won’t let it get to the stage when the Scotland man “played on one leg” for the Perth club last season.
Davidson was substituted at Celtic Park as a result of pain in his knee, missed out against Hamilton Accies on Tuesday and he hasn’t trained since.
It is now a case of seeing how the injury reacts over the next couple of days as far as his availability for the clash with Partick Thistle is concerned.
In the longer term he’ll be splitting his time between the medical team and the coaching staff.Wright said: “Murray has pulled out of training for a few days. It’s a niggle that has got worse over the last couple of weeks.
“His knee has been giving him trouble. It’s something we’ll have to manage over the next few weeks. He’s not been fully fit and it has affected his performances.
“His game is based on getting about the pitch. He had a bit of pain on Saturday. We’ve sat down with the doctor and physio and we’ll manage what he does.
“He’ll spend some time with the medical staff and some time training. Hopefully we can get him as near 100% as possible.
“We’ll see how he is over the next couple of days, but if there’s any discomfort we won’t be risking him. He played a lot of games on one leg for us last season.
“Sometimes he only trained one day a week. We’ve got a lot of options in midfield it’s probably the strongest area of our team in terms of numbers and quality.”
Meanwhile, Wright insisted that the only pressure at Hamilton in midweek was to keep their League Cup run going, not to reverse a dip in form that has seen Saints fall out of the top six in the Premiership.
He said: “It was a big game for the club because we want to do well in the cup, but not because we’ve only picked one point up in four.
“We know we need to get back to winning games in the league, but it’s still been a decent start.
“The main thing was to be in the next round, but it was important that we put in a decent performance as well, and I think we did that. There was a lot of good football.
“We created some very good chances and a lot of half chances. There was quality in the last third and I was delighted that we scored three goals.
“People were looking on it as a potential upset, but the way we approached it made sure that didn’t happen. We asked them to take the performance in the second half at Celtic into the game, and they did that.
“When we work extremely hard, we’re a match for anybody.”
No fresh injuries were picked up at Hamilton, but clearance still hasn’t been completed to allow George Bowerman to confirm his transfer to Saints.