Saints pair miss out on Hibs trip, but positive news on Davidson

Mu r r a y D av i d s o n has avoided serious injury – but the St Jo h n s t o n e midfielder and team-mate Craig Conway will both miss tonight’s Premiership clash with Hibs.

The former Livingston man fell awkwardly after winning a first half header against Mother well on Saturday.

He had to be stretchered off and was taken by ambulance to Perth Royal Infirmary to be examined, where he was joined by Craig Conway, whose nose was broken by Bevis Mugabi.

Thankfully, Davidson’s shoulder h a s n’ t been damaged.

He will, however, remain under the watchful eye of Saints’ medical team as they monitor his recovery from the blow to his head and neck.

“Murray is OK,” manager Callum Davidson reported. “He got out of hospital on Saturday night after being checked over.

“He had a sore head so he’ ll go through the concussion protocols now with the doctor and the physio.

“He’ll definitely miss the next two games and we’ll see after that.

“Hopefully he recovers well and we’ ll have him back soon.

“Unless he has any setbacks he should be back for Celtic.”

The Perth boss added: “It was a ty p i c a l Mu r r ay challenge.

“When you watch it back it was a sore one.

“At first we thought it was his shoulder but when you see the video again it’s his head and neck that takes the brunt of it.”

The manager doesn’t have a return date pencilled in for Conway yet.

“Craig has a broken nose. It’s a bad one and he’ll need to have it reset once the swelling has gone down,” he said.

“He went to hospital on Saturday but the swelling was so bad there was nothing they could do for him.

“So once that has settled down, he’s to go back in and they’ll fix it. We’ll just have to wait and see how long that takes.”

Bad luck for two men will bring an Easter Road opportunity for two others.

“It’s a blow to lose players like Murray and Craig because they have both

been brilliant for me this season,” said Davidson.

“We have a small squad but it’s a good one, so we have people like Liam Craig – who was unlucky to be left out – Michae l O ’Halloran and Guy

Melamed ready to come in.”

Sa in t s can take encouragement and motivation from their last match against Hibs, a contest they dominated but were denied a point in at the death.

“Hibs are having a very good season and are scoring goals, so they are on a high at the moment,” said Davidson.

“They defend well and have a good balance in their team.

“We played well against them at home earlier in the season and felt we should have had something from the game.

“They got a penalty in the 93rd minute, which we felt was very harsh on us, so hopefully we can use that as motivation for this game and get something.”

Craig Conway: Broken nose.