David Martindale says players like Liverpool loanee Adam Lewis are stepping up their returns from injury after midfielder Keaghan Jacobs’ long-awaited comeback.
Jacobs made his first appearance in 17 months by coming off the bench in extra time during Livingston’s Premier Sports Cup win over St Mirren last Saturday. Left-back Lewis – on loan from Liverpool – is closing in on a return to action while other summer arrivals like Tom Parkes are back in some form of training.
Jacobs returned last week. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
Boss Martindale says options will be nice: “Tom Parkes has been out running and Ben Williamson is back from Covid. Adam Lewis and Cristian Montano are not a million miles away. Last week we had Keaghan Jacobs and Andrew Shinnie on the bench. I am looking forward to the headache of picking a squad of 18 and having strong competition
“To be honest, I was looking about and I never really had anyone in the left-back area as Jackson Longridge took a sore one to his knee. It was probably a bit early for Keaghs to be honest, but I say to the physio every time, ‘just put him on the bench, I’ll not use him’. Generally, what I do is, I use them.
“Keaghs is tried and trusted, he has been here that long. So I know what Keaghs brings to the squad and I know what he can bring to me on a match day and I trust him implicitly. He is genuinely one of these players that I can play anywhere. Anywhere bar striker and centre-half.
“He is one of these boys that can’t train at 70 per cent, he can’t ease his way back in. He is 100 per cent or nothing. So he generally comes back from his rehab in good condition because he puts so much work into it. He trains at 100 per cent every training session.”
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