Craig Levein is in no mood to gamble with Nicky Clark’s fitness after the forward sat out St Johnstone’s 6-1 friendly cruise against Nairn County.
The Saints manager is already one striker down, with new signing Uche Ikpeazu out until early autumn with a knee injury.
Clark, along with Cammy MacPherson, will skip Saturday’s match Huntly and have his calf issue looked at over the coming week.
Striker problems dogged the early part of last season under Steven MacLean, with Clark and Chris Kane absent for long spells, and Levein wants no repeat with his current attacking group.
“Nicky’s calf was a bit tight the other day and I’m taking no chances,” Levein reported.
“He’s had calf problems before so we are being ultra-cautious. He came back in superb condition so I’m not wanting to throw him in and regret something happening.
“I want him 100 per cent for the first competitive game (at Brechin) in two weeks.
“Cammy MacPherson also just felt a bit of the back of his knee, a tendon. We are hoping if he’s not back for a bounce game against Hamilton on Tuesday, then fairly soon after that.”
Saints eased to victory with almost two separate teams in each half at Station Park.
Levein was pleased with the step up on the fitness front a fortnight before the first competitive game at Brechin City.
Levein said: “We got out of it what we needed – some goals, no injuries. We didn’t find our rhythm right away but as both halves progressed we saw a wee bit more.
“It’s about fitness as well and I thought we worked hard. There’s plenty to improve on but it’s been a reasonably successful evening.
“We will do the second part of this against Huntly and if we can get the same effort and workrate – and some semblance of good patterns of play and goals – we will be happy.”
Ross Sinclair will get 60 minutes in goal against Huntly before Craig Hepburn takes over.
Hepburn replaced debutant Josh Rae last night as Josh McPake and Jack Sanders also featured for the first time.
Jackson Mylchreest converted an Adama Sidibeh cross on the turn to opening the scoring. Liam Parker glanced home a Matt Smith cross to double the lead.
Andrew Greig hit back on 68 minutes for the Highland League hosts but Saints returned to top gear with Sven Sprangler making his comeback from injury.
Taylor Steven punished Lewis Munro for spilling a Stevie May shot on 72 minutes and Sam McClelland was also smart to a rebound for number four.
David Keltjens made it five with a fierce shot in off the far post. May had the final word on 90 minutes, completing the rout from the edge of the box.
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