Cammy MacPherson was talked up by Craig Levein just before his latest long-term lay-off and he’s been talked up now that the St Johnstone manager has at last been able to pick the injury-plagued midfielder.
Now the former St Mirren man is determined to show that the Perth boss is right to put his faith in him, with Saints’ Premiership status on the line.
“It’s always good to hear that a manager likes you,” said MacPherson.
“I’d been training well after he came to the club.
“We then played a friendly and I was starting to feel fit. He could obviously see that.
“Then it happened again, so it was a real blow.
“But during the injury, him and Kirky (Andy Kirk) have been really good with me – taking time to speak to me every couple of days to keep me involved.
“Coming back from injury, you’ve got that wee period after you get back training for about a week or two you start to feel a bit leggy again.
“So wee, nice comments give you a boost.
“I’ve had a few managers say that about me now, so I need to actually get out there and prove them right.
“I’m only just back from injury after being out for a long time again.
“So I’m not going to pile pressure on myself but I’ve still got expectations that I want to perform when I get the chance.”
Pittodrie return
But it did prove worthwhile from an individual point of view.
“I felt good fitness-wise after Aberdeen,” he said. “I’ve got a good base.
“But it’s match fitness that is the real killer when you get back. No training can replicate that.”
MacPherson believes the Perth dressing room can take heart from the fact they are still masters of their own destiny in their head to head with Ross County and from the experience of relegation escape acts in their squad.
“It’s three games,” he said. Still in our hands.
“If we win all three, then there’s nothing Ross County can do about that.
“That’s the mindset we’ve got to have.
“We can’t be looking at Ross County and thinking they’re picking up wins here and there.
“We’ve just got to focus on us at Livingston and then play them on Wednesday. We need to set-up that game, get a positive result and get the momentum.
“There are a fair few of us who have been in this position before and pulled through it.
“That is only going to help us.
“We need to use that.
“Two years ago here, we had a couple of games where we knew that if we won then it didn’t really matter. We were already preparing for the play-offs.
“Now we’ve got the chance, with three games left, to get ourselves out of it.”
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