St Johnstone midfielder Ali Crawford could be back playing before the end of the month, manager Callum Davidson has revealed.
The on-loan playmaker tore a groin muscle in Saints’ last match against Dundee but the prognosis is as good as he and Davidson could have realistically expected.
“We sent him for a scan and the injury has settled down well,” the Perth boss reported.
“He’ll probably be out for two or three weeks from now.
“The international break came at a good time in terms of the number of games he’ll miss.
“This is at the lower end of the scale for a groin tear.
“It’s obviously disappointing that he’s picked up the injury because he was coming on to a really good game and we’ve been seeing glimpses of the quality he’s got.
“But the good news is that it’s not going to be too long – and we should have Craig Bryson, Cammy MacPherson and Murray Davidson all available for Saturday.”
Liam Gordon running pretty hard
And Liam Gordon, who last week signed a new three-year contract, could soon be joining them.
“Liam is back running pretty hard,” said Davidson.
“We’ll keep progressing him.
“Hopefully he won’t be too far away either.
“James Brown didn’t play for Malta obviously. He went over there and got everything sorted that he needed.
“He’ll be fully fit for Saturday.
“Michael (O’Halloran) and Callum (Booth) have got niggles but hopefully they’ll be OK.”
“In some ways we didn’t want this break because we were in good form.
“It didn’t feel as if we needed it this time – certainly compared to the previous one which came after all our European games. But the flip-side is getting players back.”
