St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright is hoping to manage Chris Millar’s hamstring problem through to the end of the season.
Tuesday night’s clash with Partick Thistle was the latest in a long line of matches the influential midfielder has had to be taken off early.
A lay-off of over a month is one option that Wright has considered after this latest set-back but there is still a chance that can be avoided.
And the Perth boss is going to give that a try.
“We’re obviously disappointed he had to come off again,” Wright said. “The player said he was fine, but he felt tightness.
“We assessed him yesterday and there are two plans. One is to take him out for four to six weeks and the other is to manage him.
“We have been trying to manage him and maybe take him out for 10 days and see how we go.
“I certainly don’t want to take him out for six weeks at this stage of the season.
“We’ll probably have to patch him up and get as much as we can out of him for the rest of the season.”
Wright added: “He needs to strengthen one hamstring and he has been doing that. But to fully fix it he needs four to six weeks rest.
“But we also think we can manage it and give him more of a rest between games or let him play one, miss one.
“If it means he misses three or four games between now and the end of the season then fine, but that’s better than missing six weeks.
“It’s a weakness in one hamstring. It’s a weird one. He has a tightness rather than a strain.
“It’s not so weak he can’t play, but it is an issue that needs resolved.
“He was energetic for 90 minutes against Motherwell and then good for an hour at Thistle and then he felt it tighten.
“The best thing is to stop as he has a concern he’d tear it even if we’re not sure that would happen.
“He’s definitely not ready for the weekend.”
Murray Davidson will also miss tomorrow’s game against Aberdeen after suffering from concussion.
“We can’t take any risks,” Wright confirmed
“He doesn’t do it deliberately, it’s just the way he plays. We wouldn’t have it any other way. He goes in to challenges to win the ball.
“He’s been unlucky but he’s an all-action player.”