Smith on road to recovery

ST Johnstone star Connor Smith ended up in hospital after contracting an infection, revealed Craig Levein.

Smith scored from the bench for Saints in their 3-1 loss to Celtic before the international break, but was subsequently struck down after a cut on his toe became infected.

Such was its seriousness, the January capture from Hearts was admitted to hospital for treatment.

But Smith’s manager is confident he will be fit and available for St Johnstone’s clash with Dundee on Saturday, explaining: “He was out on the grass on Monday. He didn’t train with us, but he was doing some work.

“He ended up in hospital for four days on a drip. These things can seem quite innocuous, just a little cut on his toe, then it gets infected and the whole thing can be quite dangerous, but they’ve got it in time.

“He’s been outside with the physio doing some rehab stuff and I’d hope he’ll be okay for the weekend.

“Scoring at Celtic Park will have given him a bit of a lift, so it’s a little bit unfortunate he’s had this infection, but the antibiotics seem to have calmed it down.”

Losing Sven Spranger to a knee injury likely to end his season has come as a blow for Levein. But the Saints boss has had some good news on the defensive front, with veteran centre-back Andy Considine back in training and on-track for involvement over the Premiership run-in.

“He’s alright,” said Levein of the former Aberdeen star.

“He had a little tweak, his hip was bothering him a little bit, but he’s fine now.

“He trained on Monday, no bother, which is good because we’ll need our experienced players, for sure.”

Connor Smith.