Small Saints steps showing progress

Apoint was gained by St Johnstone in Aberdeen to close the gap on secondbottom Dundee. But it came at quite a cost.

Courier Sport highlights two players who have found their form again, the bleak nature of the injury count at Mcdiarmid Park, and a statistical shaft of light.

AN ANNIVERSARY THAT BRINGS INJURY CRISIS INTO FOCUS

It will soon be the first anniversary of Saints’ Betfred Cup final triumph over Livingston.

Nobody who holds the club close to their heart needs a calendar reminder of how far they have fallen in the 11-and-a-bit months since Jason Kerr got his hands on trophy number one.

The perilous league position alone does that – and has done for quite some time.

But the latest set of injuries brings into even sharper focus just how severely impacted Saints have been by plain rotten luck on that front.

The starting XI at Hampden on February 28 read – Zander Clark, Shaun Rooney, Jamie Mccart, Liam Gordon, Kerr, Callum Booth, Craig Conway, Liam Craig, Chris Kane and David Wotherspoon.

For that team of legends it now reads – injured, injured, available, available, sold, injured, career over, available, injured and injured.

As it stands, Callum Davidson is likely to be only able to pick three of those men when Hearts visit on Saturday.

THE REAL JAMIE MCCART AND GLENN MIDDLETON

When Saints collapsed into the mid-season break as a broken and dispirited squad, for far too many of their players the distance between the performance level they were capable of and the performance level they had been bringing to match days was cavernous.

Mccart and Middleton were high on that list.

They would now be high on a list of players who have responded to the criticism and soulsearching and markedly raised their games.

To my eyes, Mccart has played well in every Premiership match since the mid-season break, with the exception of the early minutes of the second half in Paisley.

The Saints backline has a balanced feel about it once more, and the return of his composure and sensible decision-making is a big part of that.

Middleton was a hugely frustrating player in those first few months of the campaign.

Now there is a body of work to suggest the real Glenn Middleton is back.

The match-winning assist at Livingston, the impressive first half and run which earned Saints their penalty opener against St Mirren and the part he played in the goal at Pittodrie, are solid evidence of a form curve heading in the right direction.

ONE DEFEAT IN FIVE

The statistical stick has been used to beat this Saints team.

There was the recordequalling 10 defeats in a row and then, when that was ended, the 12 matches without a win.

And goodness knows how many sub-plots about entries into the box, shots on target and goals scored have been kicked about social media over the last few months.

So it’s only fair that one defeat in five games (in six games if you go by the 90-minute rule) gets a mention.

It’s a fair reflection of steady, if unspectacular or season-changing, progress made.

BATTLING: Despite a worsening injury crisis, Callum Davidson’s St Johnstone are showing signs of resilience of late.