Stephen Robinson hopes the return of St Mirren’s jet-setting internationals can help deliver a valuable three points in their quest for a top six spot.
The Buddies face Robinson’s former club Motherwell tomorrow knowing a win is crucial to keep their chances of a top half finish afloat.
And the Saints manager is hoping he can bank on Alex Greive, Alex Gogic and Jay Henderson all being fit and available after turning out for New Zealand, Cyprus and Scotland’s Under-21’s respectively over the last week,
He hopes to have them firing just in time for one of the Paisley club’s most important games of the season.
Robinson told Renfrewshire Live Sport: “Henderson has been back in training and we’ll look at Gogic when he comes in tomorrow.
“The same with Alex. He landed back in Scotland today and will train tomorrow.
“Getting Alex back fresh from having scored a few goals for New Zealand as well is great.
“He’s a big part of our plans going forward and hopefully he’ll be good to go, depending on how tired he is from travelling.
“Half the players have been missing over the international break. We’ve had a lot of boys away with their national teams, so the squad has been light.
“We have had good sessions still though and the boys we’ve had have really applied themselves well.
“We’ve got our ideas across to certain sections of the team.
“It (the international break) gives you a bit more time to prepare than heading straight into game after game.”
The international trio’s availability could be even more crucial than normal given Greg Kiltie and Scott Tanser are both rated doubtful for Saturday’s trip to Fir Park.
The Buddies have had an injury boost from Wigan loanee Jordan Jones though, who may well be available having initially feared his season was over after picking up a shoulder injury.
Robinson said: “Kiltie is a doubt for the weekend, as is Tanser. We’re still assessing them.
“Jordan has trained over the last couple of days so we’ll make a decision on him tomorrow whether he can start the game or not.
“We thought it could have been the end of his season. Whether he’s fit and ready for this game we’ll wait and see, but it’s certainly quicker than we first envisaged.”
Whoever is fit enough to start tomorrow’s huge clash in North Lanarkshire, Robinson knows a win is vital to give the Buddies a realistic shot at making the top six this season.
But he insists they can still pick something up from their final pre-split fixture against Rangers, and may well need to even with a potential win at Fir Park under their belt.
Robinson added: “It’s a huge, huge game. No-one has put a run together and really nailed a place in the top six.
“It’s still very much all to play for. Nobody has taken the bull by the horns and guaranteed a place yet.
“Every game over the weekend is a big game. There hasn’t been much consistency from anyone.
“Saturday is an opportunity to go and get points to get our place in the top six, but that’s not to say we can’t get anything from the Rangers game next Sunday as well.”
