Anderson out of Saints friendly

S T J O H N S TO N E m ay be minus defender Steven Anderson as well as midfield man David Wotherspoon for Saturday’s away friendly against Glentoran in Belfast.

Anderson, who is nearing 400 appearances for Saints, has a muscle strain.

Ex-Hibs player Wotherspoon has had a hand operation and there is now a cast on it.

It means he will miss the Glentoran game and Saints’ newly-arranged friendly away to Livingston next Tuesday night (7.30).

He is also likely to miss the opening League Cup tie away to Elgin City a week on Saturday.

New players Keith Watson, Paul Paton, Blair Alston and Michael Coulson are in the Saints party which set off for Belfast yesterday.

The players will train in Northern Ireland before facing Glentoran.

It’s possible the new boys could make their debuts against the Irish club.

The Perth side are still looking to add to their squad but have no trialists with t hem i n Northern Ireland.

Saints will welcome a well-known face to McDiarmid Park when Bradford City visit for a July 19 friendly.

New City manager Stuart McCall has brought in a goalkeeping coach to replace Lee Butler — and that man is ex-Saints and Dundee United goalkeeping coach Steve Banks.

Steve has taken over the role at a club where he spent nine games on loan in 2002 under thenmanager Nicky Law.

The 44-year-old was most recently keeper coach with Blackpool, having joined them from Saints.

City are likely to include newly-signed defender Nathaniel Knight-Percival against Saints after he joined from Shrewsbury.

Steven Anderson has a muscle problem.