St Johnstone defender Gary Miller feared his season was done for at the turn of the year, but in one sense it may just be beginning.
The full-back has battled back after suffering a nasty ankle injury in the dying moments of a January defeat at Motherwell and has declared himself fit and available to bolster Saints’ bid for a Europa League berth.
A return to first team action is obviously the 25-year-old’s first priority, but Miller is equally convinced he can play a pivotal part in helping Saints secure a coveted top three spot.
“My target is just to play as much as I can and hopefully we can win as many games as we can and finish as high as possible,” he explained.
“Third place is the aim and I think we’ve definitely got to be looking at that. It’s in our capabilities and if we have a look back over the season we’ll probably think we could have picked up some more points somewhere.
“But we’re still in there and still around about it, so it’s good for us. From a personal point of view, I played the full 90 minutes against Aberdeen (in a bounce game last week) and I played 65 for the under 20s.
“It was good to get two games in quick succession and test the fitness. That seems fine and obviously I’ve been able to pick up a bit of match fitness as well, so it’s going well and hopefully I’ll be available for selection.
“It’s good to get games under my belt because obviously with the break it wasn’t ideal to go so long without any games. So it was good to get back involved and get at least 90 minutes under my belt.
“We’ve got to kick on from here and push ahead.”
Serendipity sees Saints begin their post-split campaign at home to Miller’s former club Ross County on Sunday, and it’s a game the former Staggie is looking forward to whether he features or not.
“Ross County have done brilliantly this season and they are a good few teams up there at the top of the league who have had good seasons,” he said.
“I think you look at the teams who are up there and you’d maybe be surprised, but everybody who’s up there is probably due it so far.
“It’s always different for a team just coming up and their target might have just been survival at the start of the season. But they’ve done brilliantly and all the lads have worked hard to push into the top six.
“I still speak to a few of the lads at Ross County and it should be a good game. I think most of them were just delighted, like we were, to make top six.”
He continued: “We’ve just got to concentrate on trying to push on from here and not accepting just being in the top six.
“Ideally we’d love to finish third and there are still five games to do that.”
Finishing at least third in the SPL is St Johnstone’s goal in the final five fixtures and Miller reckons good results in their first two games against Ross County and Inverness could be vital.
“It’s going to be important to make a good start,” he acknowledged.
“We need to take advantage of all our home games and we’ve only got two away games, so we just need to try and pick up as many points away from home as we can and push for wins at home.
“If we can get the two wins back-to-back that would definitely give us momentum and make us kick on. That would set us up nicely to pick up as many points as possible.
“It would be ideal to get two wins in our first two games, but it’s not going to be that easy is it?”
Liam Craig is banned, Callum Davidson out and Murray Davidson a doubt.
Boss Steve Lomas said: “The first two games are hugely important. It’s vital we get good results before two tough games at Dundee United and Celtic.
“Ross County went on an unbelievable run from Christmas. It was championship form. This will be a very hard match to win.”