Steven MacLean should be back in a St Johnstone shirt in a few weeks, manager Tommy Wright has revealed.
The striker picked up a serious knee injury at St Mirren in October and was operated on as result.
There was also a setback before the turn of the year, but he has now begun running again and Wright expects him to be available at the start of next month.
Wright reported: “Macca is making good progress and we should have him back by the start of March. He’s doing straight line running now. That really is great news.
“We feared that he could have been out for the season, but touch wood, everything is going well. He’ll be a real asset for us coming back.”
Meanwhile, Wright was encouraged by what he saw of Chris Iwelumo in his half-hour debut at Tynecastle on Saturday.
“Chris will be a big player for us,” he pointed out.
“Unfortunately when we brought him on we didn’t put the ball in the box enough. There were times when we over-played it. I was pleased with Michael O’Halloran as well. He looked sharp and lively. We’re going in to a period of the season when hopefully we’ll have quite a few options.”
O’Halloran further boosted his case for a first team start with two goals in the under-20s 3-1 win against Aberdeen on Tuesday afternoon.
Wright reiterated that the young players he has recruited recently aren’t expected to figure in his first team plans this season.
He explained: “Wade Joyce, Fizz (Fisayo Adarabioyo) and Mark Davis have been brought in as under-20 players with a view to next season.”
“It gives us the chance to have a longer look at them than we would get, say if we got them up here in the summer,” said Wright.
Saints play Forfar on Saturday in a Scottish Cup last 16 clash, and Wright would like to have seen better joined up thinking between the SFA and SPFL when it came to the rescheduling of their league clash with Celtic later this month.
“Did they realise that St Johnstone and Celtic are both playing in the cup when they rearranged our league match to a Sunday?” he asked.
“Cup replays are scheduled for that Tuesday, or possibly the Monday if there’s television interest.
“If we draw with Forfar, the two clubs will be ruled out of any chance of getting TV revenue on the Monday night.
“If Celtic and Aberdeen draw it would rule that out for the TV as well. It would also mean one of us could be playing Sunday and then Tuesday
“We’ve all been asked if we would have an objection to playing on a Monday night for a replay, and all the clubs have been positive about it. So why do you move a league game that could affect that?
“Obviously the Scottish Cup is the SFA and the league is the SPFL but surely there should be better communication.”