You know when a player goes down without having been immediately tackled beforehand that something is seriously wrong.
That is why as soon as Saints striker Eamonn Brophy hit the deck on Tuesday night and covered his face, you knew that his race was run.
The question on every Buddie’s lips is, how long will it be until he’s back on track and scoring goals for the club again?
Ligament damage is difficult to diagnose an exact return date from, with manager Jim Goodwin admitting yesterday that St Mirren’s top goalscorer so far this season will be out for “at least two to three weeks” as a best result.
While that would be a better result than initially feared, he could yet miss the rest of the season if the scan reveals serious damage.
Even a three week spell out of the team would rule the Scotland international out of a whopping five Premiership games due to Goodwin’s side still having two midweek fixtures to navigate this month.
With the split coming just five games later, the fear is the damage may already be done to St Mirren’s top six hopes.
Especially given how tight the race for a top half spot looks set to be with just five points currently separating Hibs in fifth spot and the Buddies in ninth.
Unfortunately, this very scenario occurred last season when Brophy was ruled out of the crucial run in with a foot injury.
While it was vital he got that problem fixed, the injury-plagued striker has now been struck down yet again at yet another pivotal moment.
In February last year the ex-Killie man was ruled out of action with the Buddies lack of a clinical striker in front of goal costing them so dearly.
They went on to draw several games, missing out on a top six spot in the end on goal difference.
Just two more strikes across the last couple of months before the split was all the Saints needed, and it’s hard to argue they wouldn’t have managed that if Brophy has stayed fit and available.
Now Goodwin is faced with the same scenario. While Brophy may come back before the split this time around, the damage may well already be done with competition for a top half spot even more fierce this time around.
Making the top six this season is an even more difficult proposition with Hearts having returned to the top flight and all but secured third spot.
With the Old Firm battling it out for the Premiership title, Motherwell, Hibs and Aberdeen currently fill the rest of the top six with Dundee United, Livingston and the Saints their nearest challengers.
To have any chance of making Tony Fitzpatrick and Jim Goodwin’s top six dream a reality the Buddies need a striker that can produce in front of goal.
With Brophy injured and Kristian Dennis having left the club to join Carlisle on deadline day, that leaves just Curtis Main (who is already ruled out for the next two weeks), recent addition Alex Greive and Lee Erwin as recognised strikers at Goodwin’s
disposal.
Erwin has scored just once this season from a handful of appearances, against Stenhousemuir, while Main has notched just one dubious goal in the Premiership in 19 appearances.
While arguments can be made about their link-up play, these strikers are not capable of firing St Mirren the kind of tally they need to knock Hibs and the Dons out of the top
six.
While Greive has looked very lively coming off the bench so far, and is clearly highly rated by New Zealand after making his senior debut last week, he is still relatively untested in Scottish football.
It would be a huge ask to burden him with the responsibility of being his new club’s main man up front heading into the business end of the season.
Some Saints fans have called for the club to turn to Leigh Griffiths, who is now a free agent after being let go by both Celtic and Dundee.
While his goalscoring talent has rarely ever been in doubt, his history off the pitch means his acquisition (if St Mirren could even afford his wage demands) would make his arrival in Paisley a huge risk.
Nevertheless, Goodwin needs to pull a rabbit out of the hat and bring in a striker to give the Buddies a fighting chance of avoiding a repeat of last season’s top six near-miss.
