Scottish Cup final team selection certainty has turned to doubt as Callum Davidson prepares to make a late decision on his St Johnstone line-up for Saturday’s Hampden Park clash with Hibs.
The Perth boss has confirmed that the early week Covid-19 test results have given his squad the all-clear.
But even if the midweek ones also bring back a full set of negatives, the fitness of the players who have missed training for the best part of a fortnight comes into play.
“If you asked me three weeks ago I probably had 10 of my first 11 picked in my head for the final,” said Davidson.
“But now I won’t know until Friday afternoon once I’ve watched them train on Friday morning.
“That’s just the way it is unfortunately. There’s nothing we can do about it.
“It’s more the physical side with the players not having trained too much so it’s going to take a monumental effort.
“Do I have concerns? Yes, but I am not going to tell you who it is!
“It’s the unknown part of it. None of us are experienced in this because we haven’t faced it before. I will just have to speak to them all individually and see where they are in their heads.
“They are all desperate to play so it will be down to me making the right decisions and not just on them telling me they are 100%.
“I need to make sure they are alright and ready to go.”
Any excuse to rewatch the goal that secured our place in the final 🥵
What. A. Hit.#SJFC pic.twitter.com/EhZkfqQmli
— St. Johnstone FC (@StJohnstone) May 19, 2021
Davidson added: “We haven’t trained much in the last three weeks. We have just had them turning up to play the games.
“We had a good training session with a small group on Tuesday and then a really good session yesterday.
“So I was pleased with that, it’s just about them being OK for Saturday now.
“I know the players are up for it, the staff are up for it and the whole of Perth is up for it.
“Hopefully that can get us through. There will be no lack of effort in trying to win the cup.
“It’s totally different to the Betfred Cup final because of the Covid problems which have been well-documented.
“Hopefully we get some good results back and we are all clear to go for Saturday.
“We tested at the start of the week and everyone was clear, so we tested again on Wednesday and are waiting for the results back.
“The majority of them were able to train on Wednesday for the first time but we will have to assess how they are.
“They are all at different stages, that’s where we are with it. They may not have had symptoms but have been sitting in the house for 10 days.
“It’s difficult for a professional football player to miss 10 days of training then come back to play in a big game.”
The fact that Saints have faced Hibs more than any other team this season is a small blessing when it comes to fine-tuning a game plan on the training ground in a short space of time.
“It’s not ideal but we have played Hibs five times already this season so we know all about them,” said Davidson.
“And we played them pre-season too, so that’s actually six times.
“We know they are a good team with really dangerous attacking threats but the preparation for that hasn’t changed all that much.
“It’s the physical and mental side that is different this time.
“I don’t think they need any extra motivation but it would make the achievement even more special.
“We’ve been a little bit unfortunate with the outbreak, and I’d rather not have had it at all, but if I was going to have it, it would be at this time of the year when I know we’re safe and I know we’re fighting for good things.”
