St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright has praised Chris Kane for taking his chance off the bench, and putting his hand up for a start against Hamilton Accies tomorrow.
Along with John Sutton, the young striker has had to make do with limited game time this season due to the impressive from of Steven MacLean and Graham Cummins.
Ten-goal MacLean will miss the Accies match, as he no longer plays on artificial pitches.
And Kane is in Wright’s thoughts to replace him for the trip to Lanarkshire.
“It will depend on the shape we go with,” Wright explained. “If we play two up Kano obviously has a better chance.
“He has been improving. But he has to show the right mentality and wait for his opportunity.
“He has done well coming off the bench against Inverness and Morton.
“I have been pleased with all four of our strikers. Both Sutty and Kano have done enough to be considered but MacLean and Cummins are in possession of the jerseys.
“To be fair they haven’t been banging on my door because they appreciate the form the other two are showing. That has limited their opportunities.
“The goal will have done Kano’s confidence a power of good. He also did well in the build-up, linking up with Michael.”
Wright added: “It’s no surprise with the competition we have for the striking roles that we have scored more goals this season.
“We are playing a more expansive game but people have responded to the challenge. That is already 31 goals in all competitions and last season we only scored 34 in the whole of the league campaign.
“We didn’t get 40 goals last year so there has been a real positive response from the players. I was confident we would score goals.”
The League Cup now takes a break until next year, and Wright pointed out that all thoughts of another semi-final for the club will be parked.
He said: “It is nice to have a third semi-final in as many seasons to look forward to. That is incredible. But it goes on the back burner.
“The win at Inverness has put us in a really good position and hopefully we can kick on.
“It would be nice to get another three points to round off a good month away from home. We have won away to Aberdeen, Inverness and Morton.
“It’s going to be difficult. They have adapted to the playing surface there. We found it tough there last season. They have shown what a good side they are and like us have shown character winning after going down to 10 men.”
Chris Millar is still out, as is suspended skipper Dave Mackay. So Brian Easton will keep the captain’s armband for one more game.
Wright said: “Dave Mackay was suspended and Midge was injured. Easty is the club captain anyway.
“Guys like Macca and Ando don’t really like being captain. They are natural leaders anyway on the pitch.
“It gives the lads something to fuel the fire because they say Easty is my son! There was a bit of banter about it before the game. That got them relaxed a bit.
“They weren’t happy because he was having a go at them. He was taking his role seriously.”
Millar should be available the following weekend.
Wright said: “Midge is working hard, he’s running and getting close but he needs a full week’s training. Hopefully he will be available for Kilmarnock next weekend.
“With his history there’s no pointing gambling with him and we have enough options in the middle of the park.”