Saints duo in fitness sweat

Mar 7 2012 by Paul Behan, Paisley Daily Express

SAINTS duo David Barron and Graham Carey are both facing a race against time to be fit for this Saturday’s Scottish Cup quarter-final clash with Hearts at Tynecastle.

Midfielder Carey, 22, was forced to pull out of the Saints squad that drew 0-0 with Hibs at Easter Road after he succumbed to a thigh injury the day before the game.

And Barron, 24, is another player to give Saints boss Danny Lennon cause for concern after he picked up a knock in the wake of St Mirren’s weekend draw with the Hibees.

With defender Marc McAusland and left full-back Jeroen Tesselaar still sidelined with injuries, Lennon’s squad could be further weakened ahead of St Mirren’s return to the capital, this time to play the Jambos.

Manager Lennon said: “Graham, picked up a thigh injury on the Friday and that was a blow for us because we had to shuffle the pack.

“And Davie Barron’s got a wee knock, but he was in on Monday getting treatment, along with the other walking wounded.”

Lennon will assess both players throughout the week to see if there is any chance they’ll be fit in time for Saturday’s important cup clash.

Lennon, though, admitted that while his first-team squad is being stretched to the limit, players have been more than willing to fill the gaps.

He explained: We are very much aware that we’re strung-out in terms of the injuries and suspensions that we currently have.

“But I must give a lot of credit to the players.

“Even on Saturday, with the personnel that we had, they were more than willing to adapt to what we’d asked them to do.

“We had to change the formation and our style of play. Basically, we had to put square pegs into round holes – but they fitted.

“You only have to look at ‘Shuggie’ Murray to see what I mean.

“Shuggie came in and gave us everything he had in midfield.

“Despite the fact that he’s not had a lot of football this season in terms of the first team, he did terrifically well for us. There were other players such as Jim Goodwin and wee Kenny McLean who did this too.

“We asked these guys to play out of their natural positions but, again, they were terrific.”