Season-saving injection has Saint feeling ‘100-times better’

INJURY: Seasonsaving hip injection sees midfielder back in contention as Saints set sights on catching fourthplaced Hearts

Murray Davidson feels “100-times better” since his season-saving hip injection, the St Johnstone midfielder has revealed.

And the former Livingston man is relieved that an old injury hasn’t come back to haunt him.

A trawl through Davidson’s medical records showed that the hip problem, which flared up against Ross County last month, wasn’t a new one.

It dated back to his pre-Saints days and also to a time when he was forcing his way into Scotland contention.

But it didn’t need an operation then, and it looks like it won’t now.

“It was a bit of a bonus to be involved on Saturday,” said Davidson, who has made a habit of defying medical science in the last couple of seasons with quicker than expected recoveries.

“It had been a case of wait and see initially after I saw the specialist. I then got an injection in the hope that it would settle it down. As soon as I got it I felt great.

“I managed to train fully on Thursday and Friday and I was back involved on Saturday (off the bench against Dundee in the second half), which is sooner than we’d thought at first.”

He added: “The injury at Ross County came out of nowhere.

“We started looking back through my medical notes and I actually had exactly the same symptoms at Livingston and I was meant to get an operation. For whatever reason that didn’t happen.

“Then I signed for St Johnstone and I ended up getting called up for a Scotland squad around the same time I was due to get it again.

“I didn’t want to pull out of the Scotland squad, and everyone was in agreement at the time.

“It got put on hold and injections helped then as well.

“I was told that it is one of these things that can flare up – but the last time was five years ago.

“Hopefully the injection has sorted it again. With a bit of luck it will have done the trick and I’ll not need an operation.

“The hip is a complex operation, I think. Even if they had gone in and not done anything, it would have been a long-term one. That would be my season over, which is obviously the last thing I want.

“I’ve felt 100-times better and there’s been no reaction. Now I’m looking to get back in the team for the rest of the season.”

A win at Motherwell will take Saints over the line as far as top six football is concerned, then the Perth side’s targets can be re-set for the Premiership run-in.

Davidson said: “We knew how big a game it was on Saturday.

“When we’ve played teams who have closed in on us we’ve picked up a result.

“That was the case against Dundee again on Saturday and it has opened up a bigger gap and given us the chance to get that top six place. We want to secure it as soon as possible.”

Is it realistic that Saints can overtake Hearts and finish in fourth place that will probably bring European football back to McDiarmid Park?

“We know it’s realistic,” Davidson said.

“We’ve played 28 games and we’re one point behind them. That shows there isn’t a lot between the teams.

“We’ve never said we want to be finishing fourth or fifth. We want to get top six and once we get that secured we can maybe start looking at targeting other teams.

“If you look at the budget and expectation levels at Hearts, they are bigger than they would be at St Johnstone.

“We’ve never said ‘this is where we want to finish’ as long as I’ve been at the club but we know what we’re capable of.”

It was a bit of a bonus to be involved on Saturday. MURRAY DAVIDSON

Murray Davidson: looking to win back place in the starting XI.