St Johnstone midfielder Murray Davidson believes he is as good as new after taking the final step on his road to recovery.
Davidson started and finished Saints’ 1-0 win over Kilmarnock in the League Cup third round at Rugby Park on Tuesday night, finally announcing his successful comeback from a long-term knee injury.
Such was his delight at getting in a full 90 minutes, the player was even happy to be sore when he woke up on Wednesday morning.
Now Davidson is looking to continue his progress at Tannadice this afternoon when Saints take on Premiership leaders Dundee United.
“That was probably the final step in my recovery, starting and playing a full competitive game,” he said of the 1-0 win secured by a goal from loan striker Brian Graham.
“I still have to do some work with the physio but that’s normal for anyone who has had a major injury but I would say that’s me 100% now.
“People have said to me that I am unlucky with injuries but looking back every season bar one I have played over 30 games.
“This was my first serious one and, hopefully, I can move on from it.
“When you get the injury, are taken to hospital and then get operated on it is hard to see a way back but I’m there now.
“It has been step by step and I was setting myself new goals all along the way. I was very positive because you have to be.
“The last six weeks when I was in full training were probably the hardest because I felt that I was there but still not quite there, if that makes sense!
“I needed matches so to get back in the starting line-up on Tuesday night really was something special.
“I remember asking the referee Steven McLean how long there was to go and he said 23 minutes.
“Thankfully, for the rest of the match Kilmarnock were sending the ball up to the big boys so I managed to get through despite cramping up in the last five minutes.
“I can’t properly put into words how happy I was to be back out there again.
“It was actually good to wake up on Wednesday morning with a few aches and pains because that’s a feeling you only get from playing competitive football.
“I also couldn’t sleep and was lying in bed wide awake thinking about the match. There is nothing like playing when there is something at stake.”
There certainly was something at stake in midweek and the victory means Saints have a quarter-final tie against Rangers to look forward to.
Just as importantly, it halted a run of successive defeats in its tracks.
Davidson added: “It was a huge win for us because the couple of games before that against Dundee and Inverness were disappointing.
“We knew if we went down there and beat Kilmarnock we would be in the quarters and now we have a great draw against rangers at Ibrox to look forward to.
“It’s a tough one but there is no reason why, if we go to Ibrox and play as we can, we can’t get through to the semis.
“Any team left in now can win the cup and if you take it game by game then who knows where you will end up.”
The night after Saints saw off Killie, today’s opponents United grabbed a dramatic last-gasp win over their city rivals Dundee to add to their Sunday stroll against the Dens men in the league.
Davidson said: “A lot of people fancied Dundee to beat them last weekend but it ended up 4-1 and they followed that up with the cup result.
“So United will be full of confidence and we know we will need to be at it to get a positive result.”