Craig Bryson will do well to hit the 30 St Johnstone appearances mark for the second season running.
But the veteran midfielder remains an important player to Perth boss Callum Davidson despite missing the first two months of the current campaign through a knee injury.
Bryson’s absence in the early weeks of 2020/21 came at a real cost to the team, according to Davidson.
And now he’s hoping that his return will help continue Saints’ upward momentum.
“He was a big miss for us, particularly in the European games,” said Davidson.
“His experience would have been a real benefit and it would have allowed us to change things a bit more in the midfield area.
“There wasn’t much we could do.”
“There’s Craig back”
Bryson, who will turn 35 next month, won’t have to be eased back into action, according to Davidson.
And he’s in contention to feature against Livingston this weekend.
“When you get towards the end of your career you know your body better than anybody,” said the McDiarmid Park manager.
“Craig trained really hard on Monday and again today, after a recovery session in between.
“Monday in training was the first time I’ve thought: ‘There’s Craig back’.
“He was the player I know – flying into tackles and running about daft.
“I wouldn’t have any worry about chucking him back into the first team. I know he’d be able to cope.
“It’s too much to expect him to play Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday-Tuesday but he can still play a lot of football, which you saw last season.
“Hopefully that’s his bad luck out of the way and he can crack on now.
“The reason we were able to get him was because he’d picked up a few injuries.
“We managed him well last season and he was fit for the majority of our games.”
