St Johnstone manager Steven MacLean has admitted the Perth club’s early season injury crisis is unparalleled in his experience.
Goalkeeper Ross Sinclair is the latest player to be sidelined after breaking his arm in a closed-doors game, with Drey Wright being sent for a calf scan.
There was a cloud above McDiarmid Park from the day Saints returned for pre-season training.
And it hasn’t lifted since.
“I’ve never known going into a season with an injury list like this,” said MacLean, who has eight first team squad members out. “And we’ve had them from day one.
“It’s not like we’ve come back in and picked all of them up during pre-season. From day one we’ve had six, seven, eight injuries and never got away from that.
“There’s hopefully light at the end of the tunnel – nothing imminent but they’re making some slow progress now.
“The break (after Saturday’s clash with Ross County) might be good for us, hopefully getting a few back.”
Clark running soon
Drilling down into the detail of the injuries, MacLean reported: “Drey is going for a scan.
“It’s important to know exactly what we’re dealing with and what we need to do.
“Nicky (Clark) is going to run on Monday. The surgeon said his lower ankle is healing. We’re just giving it that extra 10 days.
“Once he’s running then hopefully he will have no complications and we can accelerate him.
“Kano (Chris Kane) has done a little bit of jogging after his injection. Hopefully he can step up a bit.
“Cammy MacPherson is the same. Once his injection settles down he can start progressing.
“James Brown is running.
“Saturday will probably come too soon then you’re looking at the next league game.”
Hearts game positives
Despite being without so many senior pros, MacLean is optimistic Saints will put points on the board in Dingwall this weekend.
“You can take positives from last week,” he said.
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“Look at the Hearts squad and the one they’re assembling and the budget they are doing it with, then look at what we’re doing. And we were competitive.
“We are patching things up but I am not making excuses. We are a work in progress. We will get better as the season goes on and in the next few weeks.
“There are going to be bumps and we know that. But we’re still going to be competitive.
“And once we get these bodies back and bodies in, we will be really good.”
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