Darnell Fisher’s patience has been rewarded, with the Celtic loan player now established as a St Johnstone first team regular.
The young defender admitted that Dave Mackay’s misfortune has aided his cause.
Getting a chance when the club captain was ruled out for the season was one thing, though. Taking it was another.
Fisher, who is likely to start against Partick Thistle for his sixth game in a row, said: “I’m happy to be playing now.
“The chance opened up for me with Dave Mackay getting injured and now I have to take it.
“I have played right-back before but I’m happy to play wherever the manager wants me to.
“Full-back is where I’ve played most in my career so far so hopefully I do enough to convince the manager to keep me in his plans.
“I came here to play, it was a bit stop-start at the beginning but I’m in the team now and have a few games under my belt.
“I have enjoyed it, the lads are great and it has been a lot of fun.
“Missing games was frustrating but I got injured first and then when I was back the team was winning so the manager couldn’t change it.
“You can’t complain when it’s like that but I have been given a chance now.
“I was always going to be here for the season anyway so I knew the opportunity would come eventually.”
Fisher added: “I think I’ll go back to Celtic in the summer a better player because you learn every day.
“I watch the players here and learn from them and you pick things up in games.
“I want to learn, I want to get better and when I do go back I’ll be grateful to St Johnstone for giving me the chance here.”
The point against title-chasing Aberdeen on Saturday felt like three, Fisher admitted, given both the quality of the opposition and the timing of Saints’ equaliser.
Fisher insisted however that their poor run of form that pre-dated it hadn’t impacted on dressing room morale.
“Nobody here was thinking about the bad run,” he pointed out. “The only time it was mentioned was when it was in the press.
“I don’t think anyone realised it had been that long since we won a game because the place is always buoyant and upbeat.
“Training has been happy and it didn’t hinder us too much, we just weren’t getting results.
“But the Aberdeen draw felt like a victory afterwards because of the way it came around, so we’re still in there battling.
“We were the better team in the first half at Pittodrie when they scored and they were the better team in the second when we scored.
“But we were always confident of getting something there and now we want to kick on from it.
“We want to put another run together now and keep ahead of the teams around us.
“The Partick game is a big one for us, we lost to them last week and we always knew that would be a tough game.
“Goals are everything when it comes to changing a game, they got it and won the match but we had plenty of chances that night too.
“We had to chase it late on and they got another one. It was a harsh result.
“There is good experience in the squad but it’s not only the older players, I think the likes of Joe Shaughnessy and myself can handle it as well.
“We just want to get more wins on the board and secure a place in the top six.”
Chris Millar and Brian Easton will miss out again this evening but Murray Davidson returns.