St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright insists his defence will be able to cope with the loss of Steven Anderson after the centre back dislocated his thumb at the weekend.
Anderson has been ruled out for around two months after suffering the painful injury just six minutes into his team’s 1-1 draw with Partick Thistle on Saturday but Wright believes he has players at his disposal who can fill in.
The Saints boss says both captain Dave Mackay and right back Gary Miller can slot into the role vacated by Anderson, although he hinted that Miller who replaced Anderson immediately after his fateful slip at the weekend is likely to be given the nod for the impending visit of Inverness.
Wright said: “It certainly leaves us short in terms of numbers across the back but I don’t think it leaves us short in terms of quality.
“I think we’ve enough in there to deal with it and we’ll look at it with Ando to see how it settles down. Dave Mackay can go in there and he played there against Motherwell last season.
“It is an option but in fairness, Dave gives us a lot more going forward at right back. We get a lot from him and if you look at Saturday, he was 12 yards out with a chance in the last couple of minutes.
“He prefers right back, while Gary has got pace and reads the game well. It’s something we’ll look at and if it is causing us a problem then we’ll be able to switch Cuptie (Mackay) back into there and play Gary at right-back.
“But I like Gary at centre-half. He did well against Hearts there and it’s hard because the two games he’s come on it’s taken a while to get into them. He had to come on after just six minutes on Saturday but overall I think he did fine.”
Anderson is expected to be in a cast to hold his thumb in place for at least five weeks and he is unlikely to be able to return to action for a further three after that, although Saints hope his recovery period will prove to be shorter than anticipated.
Attempts to re-set his thumb on the pitch, in the treatment room at McDiarmid Park and in Perth Royal Infirmary all proved unsuccessful and it took a lengthy operation under general anaesthetic in Dundee on Saturday evening to repair tissue and bone damage around the injured thumb.
“We’re going to try and get him to see another consultant and the international break helps as well as it takes two weeks out of the time he’s going to be out,” Wright said.
“But we’ll get through this week and hopefully we’ll get a better picture. We will look at getting a cast that is light and you can maybe possibly play with.”