St Johnstone’s preparations for Saturday’s game against Celtic have been thrown into disarray after a sickness bug swept through the squad.
With seven players already suffering from the illness, a planned training session at Stirling University on Thursday was called off by boss Steve Lomas in a bid to prevent it spreading further.
Lomas admitted it was a far from ideal situation just 48 hours before facing the defending champions.
He said: ”When players began calling in, we decided there was no point pressing on with the session we had planned with the Celtic match in mind.
”We have to try and keep the bug at bay. It’s now a case of wait and see how many of the lads are fit to train on Friday. I just hope it is one of these 24-hour bugs.
”Obviously, it’s not ideal but there is nothing you can do about this sort of thing. We just have to deal with it.”
Lomas will decide today whether to gather the squad together for training but said that unless there was a major deterioration in the situation, there was little chance the club would be asking the SPL for a postponement.
The former Norther Ireland international also ruled out making a playing comeback, joking: ”I won’t be donning my boots again but I’d have relished a wee midfield battle with Scott Brown!”
Celtic play their Champions League group opener on Wednesday night at Parkhead against Benfica and there have been suggestions that Hoops boss Neil Lennon may rest key players against Saints.
However, Lomas said: ”It is a tough game whatever team Neil puts out. They could probably field three teams in the SPL.
”But we just have to look at our last two performances for inspiration. We have to be playing to our maximum and hope they have an off day.”
Saints are sitting bottom of the SPL table and are still looking for their first league win after five games.
However, Lomas believes it is only a matter of time before his players get the results their overall displays deserve.
He added: ”I have been more than happy with performance levels, apart from the Aberdeen game when I was first to criticise the lads.
”If we were sitting here after five displays like that one, I might think we were looking at a long season.
”But we have to remain upbeat. I would be sitting here worried if we weren’t creating chances but we are and we have to start converting them.
”We have shown we are capable of keeping clean sheets and now we have to put the two things together.”
Chris Millar will come into contention for the Celtic clash after proving he had recovered from a hamstring injury during a midweek bounce game against Motherwell.
Photo by Lynne Cameron/PA Wire