Dan Phillips has paid a heavy price for his red card against St Mirren.
But the St Johnstone star is finally available for selection again – and boss Callum Davidson could not be happier.
Phillips was slapped with a two-match ban after being sent off in the Perth side’s 1-1 draw with the Buddies on February 25.
Thanks to cup games and international weekends, his suspension is now into its FIFTH week.
But he is available for selection for Saturday’s clash with Aberdeen and Phillips’ international stint with Trinidad and Tobago could prove the perfect warm-up.
“Dan has been banned for two games but he’s been out for about five weeks because of the schedule,” said Saints boss Davidson.
“It has been a tough one for him so we’ll be delighted to get him back.
“He played for Trinidad the other day and they had another game against Nicaragua on Tuesday, so we are expecting him back on Thursday.
“It was good for him to get a game because he has been out for a little while, he’ll have been away working hard.
“We spoke to him about his fitness levels back last year and he’s put loads of work in to get fitter so he can get about the pitch more.
“Hopefully he will come back fresh enough to be available for selection against Aberdeen.
“The good thing is he’s played, it’s more difficult when players go away on international duty and don’t get any minutes because it’s a long week when you don’t.
“International camps are always geared to the next game and the starting 11 for that – and rightly so – but that means there can be a lot of sitting about if you’re not involved, which isn’t ideal.
“But that hasn’t been the case for Dan, he started the first game, and we just hope he comes back fresh.
“People are different, some players handle the long journeys no bother and others don’t deal with it as well.
“So we’ll just have to assess Dan when he gets back to us later this week.”
Phillips is not the only Saint returning from international duty, with James Brown heading back to Perth after his stint with Malta.
Davidson explained: “James got on against Italy for Malta, which will have been a fantastic experience for him.
“As a player you can only learn from those things and it adds to your belief coming up against players of that calibre.
“That can only help him and St Johnstone in the future. When you go away on international duty and have that level of opponent it’s always a great experience.”
The Perth side are this week working towards a weekend clash with Aberdeen at McDiarmid Park.
Davidson feels the Dons are an improved outfit under interim boss Barry Robson.
But the bullish Perth boss insists that, with Saints at home, Saturday’s contest is more about what they can do than how Aberdeen can be countered.
“Aberdeen have picked up under Barry,” Davidson said.
“They have good players and a good squad, that hasn’t changed.
“But we are at home so we’ll be focusing on what we can do and making sure we do the right thing, rather than what Aberdeen are doing.
“We want to start games better, we know we have to get off to a quicker start in games and that’s something we have discussed.”
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