St Johnstone sent Victor Griffith for a scan on his injured ankle.
And the Perth midfielder has been given the all-clear to step-up his comeback.
The Panama international twisted his ankle at Rugby Park last month and has missed Saints’ last three games as a consequence.
The injury hadn’t fully cleared up by the end of last week so a decision was made to explore it further.
With the scan results positive, Griffith will now return to full training in the hope he’ll be included in Simo Valakari squad for the Scottish Cup quarter-final clash with Livingston on Monday night.
“Victor had an X-ray to make sure his ankle was OK because it was still bothering him,” Valakari reported.
“Thankfully it came back showing there’s no structural damage, so he will train fully this week.”
Tired team
Saints missed Griffith’s energy in the second half of their draw with Dundee on Saturday.
Valakari believes fatigue was at play in his team’s performance level drop-off at Dens Park.
“We had three games in six days,” he said. “It takes a toll physically on the team and I think that was a factor in the second half against Dundee.
“We put so much effort into the Ross County game to get a good result – there was a lot of intensity with it being 1-0.
“Analysing the game back, I feel pretty much the same as I did at the time.
“We scored a great goal then conceded one just before half-time, which deflated us a little bit mentally.
“Although it wasn’t the result we wanted, I think psychologically getting the draw was important.
“In football you are going to concede some goals, but you have to react to it the right way.
“We dug in and got away from there with something, which hasn’t always been the case this season when we have had setbacks.
“I think it was important. The players now know they can do that in games again.”
Twists and turns
Valakari added: “We have to look at things positively.
“We were 10 points behind at one stage – I think Dundee were 12 ahead of us in the middle of January – but we have closed the gap a bit.
“There is still a long way to go. There will be twists and turns almost every week in the next while.
“For us, nothing has changed. We are still bottom of the league, so we need to stay in it and give ourselves a chance.”
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