STRIKER DESPERATE TO MAKE HIS POINT

He might not be leaving St Johnstone with two winners’ medals like others who have parted company with the Perth club this summer.

But Callum Hendry’s place in McDiarmid Park folklore is as secure as the memories that will live with him for life.

No player did more to keep Saints in the Premiership last season.

And you could make a case for the 24-yearold’s return from Kilmarnock being the biggest individual SOS mission-accomplished in the club’s history.

“Job done” doesn’t really do Hendry’s nine goals and contribution to the 2022 escape act justice.

“I wanted to have a crack at it,” he said, reflecting on manager Callum Davidson’s decision to bring him back from Rugby Park in January.

“I felt really hungry and was desperate to prove a point. Dundee was my first game back and I didn’t score but I felt it was the best I’d played for a long time.

“That gave me confidence going into the Livingston game (when Hendry put Saints in front with a header from a Dan Cleary cross).

“The changing room needed a lift. You aren’t going to be a confident team when going through a run like that.

“But from day dot, I thought there was no chance that this team would go down.”

“You don’t choose to endure the stress of a play-off to stay in the top flight – nor do you choose being pegged back from 2-0 up to 2-2 in the first leg of it in Inverness.”

Hendry, who has signed for Salford City, added: “We were all fuming about being in the play-off and probably a bit nervous

“At half-time in the first leg it was perfect. It was exactly the position we wanted to be in.

“But we needed to make it tougher for ourselves and give the gaffer a heart attack.

“I’m just glad we got the job done in the second leg.”