Davidson frets over Covid-hit final squad

ST Johnstone manager Callum Davidson admits he is hugely concerned about the line-up he will be able to send out in the Scottish Cup final after another Covid-19 scare at McDiarmid Park.

The Saints had eight players missing due to coronavirusrelated issues, either through positive tests or as a result of being identified as close contacts, as they went down by four goals to nil at Celtic Park last night.

They haven’t trained since their Scottish Cup semi-final win over St Mirren at the weekend, and when asked how concerning the situation was with their Hampden return against Hibernian on May 22nd fast approaching, Davidson said: “Very concerning. I think the whole world is concerned about Covid, so it’s not just me, but it’s not a nice situation to be in.

“We’re doing our best with everybody, we’re not experts on it, so we’re trying to get as much help as we can to make sure we’re all safe. We followed government guidelines and it’s paramount we keep them safe.

“We’ll get three or four of the players back tomorrow, which is great, and the good news is that they’re all asymptomatic, so they are not suffering at all.

“We must try to stamp it out and we can’t let it fester.”

The St Johnstone players were tested on Tuesday night, with no new cases identified.

“That’s why we’re trying to shut the place down as much as we can and test people as often as we can to make sure everyone is safe,” Davidson said.

“I hope [we can train before the weekend]. We’ll go over the guidelines with the government and follow their instructions to the letter to make sure we’re prepared.

“It will probably be socially distanced training, but it’s important to get the players out on the grass as quickly as possible.

“Fingers crossed [we’ll have a full squad for the final]. But what this last week has taught us is that it’s a difficult virus, and that’s why we’re all in this pandemic.”