Four to miss semi-final after Saints Covid blow

CALLUM DAVIDSON will be forced into a major reshuffle for Hampden after four of his St Johnstone players were ruled out of Sunday’s semi-final with St Mirren due to Covid-19. Two of the Perth club’s players have tested positive for the virus and were immediately ruled out of the match, with a further two close contacts subsequently told to self-isolate as a result of a track and trace assessment. ‘The club can confirm that two members of our playing staff have tested positive for Covid-19,’ said Scott Boyd, the club’s head of football operations. ‘They will both be missing from the Scottish Cup semi-final on Sunday against St Mirren. ‘Thankfully, after the latest round of testing, all results were negative. However, as a result of the positive tests, two other players have been forced to self-isolate due to Government guidelines. The two players in question tested negative. ‘It’s very unfortunate for four of our players to miss out on the important game on Sunday. However, we wish all of them well and their health and wellbeing will always be our priority.’ Saints defender Jamie McCart, meanwhile, has vowed to reach the Scottish Cup final for the four players who have been ruled out. The centre-half said: ‘It is a shock and it is really disappointing for the boys that it’s happened to. ‘We are gutted. The full season we have been really lucky with it, thankfully nobody has really caught it. ‘We are just coming to a really pivotal moment in the season and, unfortunately, it has arisen. ‘But it gives us maybe even a little bit more motivation to go and win the game and they will be back for the final. ‘As the gaffer has said to us, you have just got to put that out of your mind right now and focus on the game because it’s an extremely tough game against St Mirren and it’s such a big opportunity — it would be a shame to let it slip. So we just have to focus.’ Manager Davidson will take some comfort in knowing his side have been largely unaffected when he has made sweeping changes in recent months. St Johnstone made seven changes following their quarter-final win over Rangers but still beat Hibs at Easter Road last weekend. ‘We all know the style we want to play,’ added McCart. ‘Whoever comes in fulfils the duties as well as anyone, so that’s really positive for us.’