St Johnstone manager Callum Davidson knew his Scottish Cup final starting XI three-weeks ago but now things are ‘up in the air’ after a Covid scare at the club which resulted in four players having to self-isolate and he now says that places are ‘up for grabs’.
Although more testing early this week returned all negative results, Davidson has been keeping his “fingers crossed” that Wednesday’s screening does likewise.
Davidson has performed wonders since taking over from Tommy Wright and already has the League Cup in the trophy room after a comprehensive 3-0 victory over Hibs in the semi-final.
The Saints proved it was no fluke and took all three points at Easter Road two weeks ago.
He said: “It is a hard situation. They have come back training, it is not great for a professional athlete to miss 10 days and do nothing in their house.
“I will need to watch them training to assess their physical condition and where they are mentally as well. These are all factors. If you had asked me three weeks ago what my team was I probably would have told you, whereas now things have changed so it is up in the air.
“There are places up for grabs, it is going to be a difficult call on who to pick and I will only get it right if we win it.
“It is going to take a monumental effort from everyone involved to get a result on Saturday.
“This week it is basically turn up in your training gear, walk on to the pitch, walk off, pick up their packed lunch boxes on the way out and eat it in the car.
“It’s a bit unfortunate, I would have also liked to get the boys suits and made it more a special time for them, but they are okay, they realise the magnitude of the game and after winning the League Cup, they know what they can achieve on Saturday.”
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
