Stephen Robinson has admitted St Mirren are in the dark over Conor McMenamin’s latest injury setback.
The Northern Irish winger has been sidelined since coming off in the dramatic 3-2 Premiership win over St Johnstone on December 14.
McMenamin’s absence in the last six games has been keenly felt by the Buddies given the dynamic option he provides in attack.
Boss Robinson says the 29-year-old looks set for another scan in a bid to “get to the bottom” of what’s causing the issue with his calf/achilles.
Speaking ahead of Saturday’s Scottish Cup fourth-round tie at League One Queen of the South, he said: “It’s a blow for us but it’s just something we have to deal with.
“We’re going to have to get him scanned again. It’s a strange injury – just at the bottom of his calf/achilles – that you don’t see very often so we’ll have a second opinion on that now.
“It’s been frustrating for him and certainly tested him mentally. But there are injuries and there are not normal injuries. One was a serious knee injury and this one is very, very rare.
“It’s a frustrating period for Conor and hopefully we can get over it. Conor obviously gives us that little point of difference in terms of beating players and it’s something we’ve lacked.
“We’re very organised, we’re very disciplined, but you need those mavericks to go past people and we’ve sorely missed Connor on a lot of occasions. We know what tremendous ability he’s got.
“We’ve got him back to a stage in the last couple of weeks where he’s been running and he’s been joining in. He’s done everything in the gym with Gerry [Docherty, club physio].
“But when we’ve got him back out on the pitch both times he’s broken down so it needs further investigated and hopefully we get to the bottom of it again.
“Gerry is a vastly experienced physio and we will get to the bottom of it. It just hasn’t responded the way we anticipated it would respond.”
Saints have lost four in a row as they prepare to travel down the M74 to take on Peter Murphy’s Doonhamers who are treading water in the third tier.
It’s also a plastic pitch at Palmerston while 1,200 members of the black-and-white army will be in attendance. Robbo says there will be full focus as he bids to get his team back on track.
“It will be a real test,” he warned. “I’ve been down there in the cup before with Motherwell. We managed to win but we will not take this lightly in any shape or form.
“They may see us as on a losing run with a chance to progress themselves. But we also see it as a chance to progress in the cup.
“I’ve been experienced enough to know that, when you go to these places, you have to do the simple things better than the opposition.
“You have not to give them any momentum. You have to start the game brightly and take nothing for granted and we certainly won’t do that.”
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