St Johnstone have been dealt the “bitter blow” of losing Chris Kane after the Perth striker was forced to isolate for 10 days as a result of a recent change in coronavirus rules.
Kane was absent for the 2-0 defeat to Rangers and will now be sidelined for the Perth side’s trip to Motherwell and the visit of Ross County.
With the Omicron variant sweeping across the country, manager Callum Davidson fears this may be the start of a wave of players being forced to stay house-bound over the festive period.
“These new rules just came in on Friday and I end up losing my main striker for 10 days,” said Davidson.
“First and foremost I do hope the family member is safe and well, most importantly.
“But it’s a bitter blow, a real hard one to take, that we are going to lose Chris for these important games coming up.
“I’ve got kids and my wife works. A lot of our wives work and we’re all at risk.
“I’ve lost a member of staff in similar circumstances.
“It won’t just be St Johnstone that is affected.”
Davidson added: “I am going to get one or two back and lose one or two quickly again.
“I thought Stevie May was going to be out longer, so it was a bonus there.
“I thought he was excellent when he came on tonight, his work-rate and energy was really good and he caused a threat. So we have got him there and we have got a lot of positives.”
Eetu Vertainen was substituted at half-time after Saints conceded the opening goal just before the break.
The Finn had lost possession, resulting in Rangers winning a corner from which Alfredo Morelos scored.
“I thought it was a hard game for us,” said Davidson.
“One team held the ball up well and linked play.
“For me that was the most disappointing thing.
“In the 42nd minute we were trying to flick balls round corners when it was important we stayed in the game.
“This is a tough place to come.
“We could have seen it through to half-time and that basically cost us the game because we were trying to chase it after that.
“Morelos was superb. When the ball came to him he linked it and played a safe pass. Really good forward play.
Butterfield positive
“I want more from my strikers, especially when you come to Ibrox.
“If somebody takes the ball off you by fighting and scrapping I’ll accept it but not flicks round the corner with two minutes to go until half-time.
“We lost our shape a bit at the start of the second half and it was game over.
“What I would say is they kept going, kept fighting and never stopped.
“There were some positive performances.
“Jacob Butterfield hasn’t played for six months. I was really pleased to get him minutes – probably more than I thought.
“Reece Devine was excellent down the left and Viv (Solomon-Otabor) did well when he came on.
“Those were good signs.”
