ST JOHNSTONE have allowed promising young midfielder Liam Caddis to move to Cowdenbeath on a one-month emergency loan deal.
The 19-year-old has struggled to break into the first team at McDiarmid Park this season, so Saints boss Steve Lomas believes the temporary switch to Central Park will give Caddis some much-needed game time.
Caddis made his SPL debut at the age of just 16 under ex-boss Derek McInnes and was later farmed out on loan to Arbroath in 2011 to aid his development.
That was for an initial one month loan period but was soon extended to the end of the 2011-12 season.
After being given a contract at Saints for the duration of the 2012-13 campaign, Caddis has so far only made three substitute appearances for the Perth men, prompting Lomas to look at other options for the player.
With the move rubber-stamped last night, Cowden boss Colin Cameron hopes the teenager’s SPL experience will bolster his side’s First Division survival bid and open up more options over the coming weeks.
The arrangement with Saints is initially for one month but there is the possibility that the loan could be extended until the end of the season.
Cameron said: “He will freshen things up, he has Premier League experience and is direct and positive with an eye for goal.
“In our last three games we have found ourselves in a winning position but have only come out with a point, but Liam will give us the injection of something different.
“He played against us when he was on loan at Arbroath last season and I have seen him a couple of times this season.
“He scored a hat-trick against Dundee United in an under-20 league game so hopefully he will do well for us.”
Caddis played 12 minutes or so against his new team on December 17, appearing as a second-half substitute in Saints’ 3-0 Scottish Cup win in Fife.
The move echoes that of Saints striker Steven May, who joined First Division Hamilton at the end of August on an initial loan until January.
May (20) scored five times for Accies in that spell and Lomas subsequently agreed to allow the striker to stay on at New Douglas Park until the summer.
Meanwhile, Cameron will be making fitness checks today on midfielders Kyle Miller and Dean Brett, who picked up ankle and foot injuries against Airdrie on Wednesday.
Another Cowden midfielder, Mark Ramsay, was going through an operation yesterday on an ankle injury with the likelihood he will now be out of action for six weeks.