Nicky Clark will be fully fit for pre-season, St Johnstone manager Callum Davidson has confirmed.
The Perth striker’s post-ankle operation lay-off is likely to stretch to three months, giving the former Dundee United forward no realistic prospect of returning this term.
But there’s not a concern that his recuperation will spill into Saints’ 2023/2024 summer preparations.
“Nicky is going to see a specialist and it’s very likely he’ll need an operation,” said Davidson.
“He’s got a high ankle sprain, which is a tricky one to treat compared to the lower sprain.
“There will be a 12-week recovery time from an operation so his season is over and that’s a huge blow.
“He’s that forward player who links things together for us.”
Davidson added: “We actually didn’t think it was that serious when he did it. We thought he’d just rolled his ankle and he’d be fit for the Hearts game.
“But it’s turned out to be worse than expected.
“It’s bad luck but Nicky will be back for pre-season and ready to go again.
“We have Zak Rudden, Theo Bair, Connor McLennan and Jamie Murphy – so there is a chance for them there now.”
Bad start, sore head
Meanwhile, Davidson knows that he has to get to the bottom of the poor starts to games that have been far too frequent for Saints this season.
Saturday at Rugby Park was one of the worst examples, if not the worst, yet.
“My reflections on the weekend are the same,” he said. “I still have a sore head!
“The first half we were really poor and then we improved significantly in the second half.
Making it 6️⃣ for the season!
Another game and another goal for Drey Wright 🤩#SJFC | pic.twitter.com/XUPKPZK9ak
— St. Johnstone FC (@StJohnstone) March 20, 2023
“On all the stats we were miles behind where we need to be in that first 45 minutes.
“We keep putting ourselves behind the eight ball by starting slowly and that’s something we have to look at.
“Macca and I discuss it all the time, trying to find out why it has happened.
“It might be we have to change our routine a bit or tweak something else to get us going early in games.
“It has happened too many times this season.
“Training had been really good last week so I was surprised when we started that way.”
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