St Johnstone manager Craig Levein is hopeful that star striker Nicky Clark hasn’t suffered a serious injury set-back.
The experienced forward returned to the Perth side with a bang after over eight months out, scoring three goals in two games.
Clark looked in distress as he trudged off the McDiarmid Park pitch in the second half of Saints’ Premiership clash with Ross County, shortly before Graham Carey came up with a stunning winner.
It was the only downside to a match that lifted Levein’s men up to 10th in the table.
And the new Saints boss will now be keeping his fingers crossed for positive scan results on Clark’s injured calf.
“It’s not looking like a disaster,” said Levein.
“I think and hope that he has just tweaked his calf.
“Until we know what it looks like with scans, we don’t know. But he’s not unable to put weight on it.
“Hopefully it’s nothing too serious.”
Levein believes his team exorcised their second half ghosts in the win over County.
Having let a two-goal lead slip against Motherwell in midweek, there was no hint of their opponents finding a way back into the contest this time around.
‘Spooked’ reaction
“I talked after Motherwell about us getting spooked,” said Levein.
“We’ve dealt with the ghosts.
“That was evidence enough that we can cope with the pressure of being in front.
“They battered everything into the box but Dimi (Mitov) hasn’t made a save.
“There were some good catches, I think, but not a clear-cut chance.
“That pleased me enormously.
“I thought we did quite well in the first half.
“Second half we had more control of the game, and what a goal to win it.
“That’s the quality Graham has got. He brings a calmness to us. I like when he’s in possession of the ball.
“He’s got good imagination. It was a wonderful goal and a great move.
“There are glimpses of good stuff and hopefully we can get more of that.
“The thing that pleased me most was the way that they dug in. Ross County are a physical, strong and quick side in the front line and Dimi didn’t have a save to make.”
Onwards and upwards
Levein wants to see Saints take full advantage of the recent improvements that have seen them move from 12th to 10th when the season resumes in a fortnight.
“Getting off the bottom of the league helps in the short term but we need to use it to put together a run,” he said.
“The ambition has got to be to climb the table. That’s what we’ve got to do.
“The break comes at a good time. Everything has been a whirlwind – a lot of meetings and training ground and games.
“We’ve not had a chance of an extended period to work on things. That will give us plenty time to try and implement some more stuff if we can.”
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