Chris Kane wasn’t thinking about European football when he booked his summer holidays a few months into the season.
The St Johnstone striker should have known better.
But for Kane, who secured a European spot for the club two years ago, having to tweak his close-season plans is a small price to pay for another crack at the Europa League.
“I had to rearrange my holiday,” he said. “I had to pay an excess to change the flights but it wasn’t too bad.
“I booked it back in October, just going by the same dates as last year. I thought it would be fine.
“I’m not disappointed because I’d take qualifying for Europe every time over a holiday. You’d take the hit to play in the big games.
“It’s what we were all aiming for. I’m not really bothered about holidays. I’ll go away and recharge to come back. It’s a quick turnaround for us.”
Being available for selection for the Premiership run-in has been a bonus for Kane, who could be in line for game-time against Hearts tonight and Rangers on Sunday.
He said: “I didn’t realise I’d injured myself initially because I played on for the rest of the game against Kilmarnock. I woke up on the Sunday and felt it, but we were training that day.
“I went in earlier to get checked out and the physio said it could be my lateral ligament. I saw a specialist and he said it could take up to 12 weeks, which would have ruled me out for the rest of the season.
“I just had to follow the programme. It was a bonus that the time out was reduced. I wasn’t expecting to be back but that was the aim. It’s felt good and strong. I was happy to get back.”
After scoring the goal that set up the game against Alashkert of Armenia a couple of years ago, the European experience was all too brief for Kane and his team-mates.
He recalled: “I came on in the away game against Alashkert and I started the home game. I don’t have great memories of those matches.
“You never know what to expect from these games, or what you’ll come up against. We had a great chance to beat them but were just unlucky on the day. The gaffer will pick the players he feels are suited for the games but we’ll be confident going into it because we’ve had a good season.”
The Edinburgh-born frontman will be hoping to keep a few friends quiet this evening.
He said: “I’ve a good few pals who are Hearts fans and they’ve given me every excuse under the sun for the way it’s gone for them. They probably didn’t think we would reel them in. They were flying at one point.
“Losing Callum Paterson was a big blow because he was brilliant for them. But we’ve done well, got the results and we’re in fourth on merit. We’ve done it with a few games to spare, which is great.”
