A live television match against Rangers provides a final big opportunity for St Johnstone duo David Wotherspoon and Ryan McGowan to catch the eye of their national managers ahead of World Cup squad selection.
And their club boss, Callum Davidson, is hopeful that both men can stake an 11th hour claim to be on a plane to Qatar.
Comeback midfielder Wotherspoon has been accumulating game-time as a substitute for Saints of late, and impressing in doing so.
McGowan, meanwhile, has been a pivotal presence in Davidson’s starting line-up, whether in defence or, latterly, midfield.
Graham Arnold and John Herdman will soon be finalising their 26-man squads for Australia and Canada respectively.
And both Saints players have persuasive cases to be included.
“David has been good when he has come onto the pitch and has shown composure and experience,” said Davidson.
“He is pushing for more minutes on the field.
“David has been out for a long time. We’ve been getting him back in to make sure he is 100% right.
“If David wasn’t going to get any game-time here, he would obviously go away with Canada (for a friendly against Bahrain).
“It is about getting the right balance for him.”
Took @Spoony_10 about 30 seconds To do his famous chop after coming on as a sub get him to the World Cup @CanadaSoccerEN he makes a big difference also another amazing performance from @rmcgowan89 not had one bad game @FootballAUS get him on the plane too 💙
— Kody Batchelor (@KodySJFC2005) October 29, 2022
Davidson added: “Ryan has played a lot of minutes for me and has shown his versatility.
“I’m hoping he can get to the World Cup too.
“You want them to concentrate on their football here first and foremost.
“The game on Sunday is on the television so you hope they put in a performance that the manager likes.”
Areas to improve
Saints will take heart from last month’s narrow and late defeat to leaders Celtic when they face Rangers as well as recent back-to-back league victories.
“The performance levels haven’t been as good the last two games, but we’ve won them both,” said Davidson. “I would take that on Sunday!
“We want to be a bit better on the ball. There are always areas to improve.
“Against Rangers or Celtic, if you go 2-0 down then it’s a really tough ask to come back.
“If you can stay in it as long as you can, then you know at some point you will get chances.
“We’ve been close a few times so it would be nice to now get a result.
“When you’re able to stay in the game, you never know what can happen.”
Jamie Murphy returns
Jamie Murphy is “fit and raring to go”, Davidson reported.
“Training has been really good this week and we’ve had that extra day to work hard,” he said.
“We have three games in six days. Our pitch is actually quite heavy with the amount of rain we’ve had.
“It can take a little toll on the legs.
“We’ll assess them after every game and look to make good, sensible decisions.”
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