St Mirren manager Jim Goodwin highlighted the players who showed life can be bright after Jamie McGrath amid further uncertainty about the midfielder.
McGrath asked to be left out of the midweek trip to Dundee United amid ongoing speculation about his future, with the likes of Wigan and Birmingham credited with interest.
The Republic of Ireland international could also miss Saturday’s Scottish Cup fourth-round tie at Ayr but Goodwin was delighted with the players who came in to help his side win at Tannadice.
When asked about McGrath, Goodwin said: “I will decide Friday afternoon whether Jamie will be involved.
“He certainly has been a key player and I think as a club, and personally, we have been good for Jamie.
“I brought him over from the League of Ireland and gave him a good platform to showcase his talents. He has lived up to the expectations that I knew he would and on the back of that he has got himself a few senior international caps.
“He’s got great recognition playing for St Mirren and I’m sure Jamie appreciates that as well.
“The fact of the matter is, for the game on Tuesday night, I needed a group of players who were fully committed to what we are trying to do here. It was far too important a game to have people playing that you’re not sure where their heads are at.
“We have probably spent too long talking about Jamie in some of these press conferences and don’t talk about some of the other players that we have here. I am very lucky to have the kind of squad that we do have.
“Greg Kiltie has been waiting patiently for his opportunity and came in in the absence of Jamie and was absolutely outstanding. If that’s the type of performance we can expect from Kilts on a regular basis then we don’t have to worry too much about anything else that happens really.
“Jay Henderson was another one that came in, a young academy graduate, has waited patiently for his opportunity and was outstanding, scored the goal of the night throughout the Premiership, I thought.
“Numerous other players I should be talking about – the likes of Eamonn Brophy who was back among the goals. We have proven on Tuesday night that we are not a one-man team and life goes on, it’s as simple as that.”
However, Goodwin could decide that is best to leave some of the aforementioned players out at Somerset Park.
“I don’t like making wholesale changes just for the sake of it but I have to remind myself that was the first game back for a month and some of them hadn’t played for even longer, like the ones I mentioned there,” he said.
“So we need to manage the next couple of weeks appropriately for certain individuals because the last thing I want to do is risk serious injury with fatigue.”
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