Ryan McGowan will have a hole in his boot at Pittodrie and St Johnstone will have a point to prove

The hole in Ryan McGowan’s foot has been fixed, enabling the St Johnstone defender to be available for Wednesday night’s clash with Aberdeen.

But the hole in his boot will be left alone.

A challenge by Rangers centre-back, Connor Goldson, inflicted a nasty wound on McGowan that kept him out of Saints’ weekend defeat to St Mirren.

The Australian international will be playing through the pain barrier at Pittodrie.

And the tear in his boot that Goldson left might actually be of benefit.

“I got the stitches out today,” said McGowan.

“There might be a few winces of pain but I’m sure I’ll get through that fine.

“We’re not in a position to be worried about things like that.

“I got a hole in my boot from the incident – that will help relieve the pressure on it.

“I like those boots so I don’t want to throw them out, anyway!”

McGowan and his Perth team-mates have been left in no doubt that the performance in Paisley was unacceptable, with Craig Levein’s anger level reaching new heights.

“We had an in-depth meeting on Monday,” said the former Hearts man.

“It wasn’t one for anybody with a weak stomach, I guess.

“A lot of strong words were said. They had to be said.

“There have been too many times over the course of the season that we’ve had to have those type of meetings.

“Most of the time, though, we’ve had a good reaction to a bad performance.

“That’s certainly what we need tomorrow night.

“The manager wasn’t happy at all but you can’t be. We weren’t happy with it as players.

Not matching the other team’s effort is the worst thing that can be thrown at you as a player.”

“That’s probably the angriest he’s been.

“You don’t need to be a brilliant footballer to run back quicker than your opponent and win tackles.

“These are things you should be doing week in and week out.

“They weren’t there on Saturday and haven’t been there consistently enough over the course of the season.

“That’s why we find ourselves in this position.”

‘Poorest performance’ of St Johnstone’s season

McGowan added: “Not matching the other team’s effort is the worst thing that can be thrown at you as a player.

“There have been too many games where fans could point the finger at us and we need to get away from that, quick smart.

“If you’re doing the things that you can control it gives your team the best chance of winning the game.

“The boys know they were off it on Saturday – it’s up there as our poorest performance.

“Airdrie was another, which I was heavily involved in.

“We’ve got a game tomorrow night and then on Saturday. Win those two and, all of a sudden, we’re in a much better position.

“We’re not happy with where we are in the table but we know that it can change again quickly.

“We’ll need to perform far better than we did at the weekend to do that, that’s for sure.”

Scoring goals is a team concern

Saints are the lowest scorers in the Premiership.

And McGowan believes putting that right is a collective responsibility.

“Sometimes it feels as if we’re under more pressure as a defensive unit than we put teams under,” he said.

“But it’s up to all of us to contribute to scoring goals.

“We need to make sure we put together 10 or 15-minute spells when there are a lot of balls going into the box, making their goalie work and winning second balls.

“We need to create more pressure and chaos.

“We’re not going to win many games if their keeper is only making two or three saves.”