Determined David Wotherspoon taking injury rehabilitation one stage at a time

David Wotherspoon has thanked everyone for the support as he continues his long road back from serious injury.

St Johnstone’s influential multiple cup-winning midfielder ruptured his ACL in November’s League Cup semi-final against Celtic at Hampden.

Having gone under the knife, rehab has started and the 32-year-old hopes to be back producing the famous chop for the start of next season.

“I haven’t made a particular timeline for myself,” he said. “I’m taking it one stage at a time.

“But I would hope to be back next season. Unfortunately I won’t be able to be back on the pitch this side of the summer.

“Hopefully just after pre-season, if not just after the start of the season, I hope to be back on the pitch.”

A motivator for Wotherspoon will be striving to make it back for the 2022 Qatar World Cup, which begins in November. Canada, who he has now represented a number of times, are on the brink of qualification.

“Of course I’ve been watching every game and following the progress as much as I can,” he said.

“It’s great to see and no surprise to me with the ability we’ve got in the squad. Hopefully they make the last push in March to qualify for the World Cup.

“I’m just going to try focus to get myself back fit and hopefully I can be in with a shout.

“Just being there would be incredible but at the same time, with the squad Canada has got, we would look to make an impact on the World Cup.”

This is the worst injury Wotherspoon has suffered in his successful career so far (he has broken his foot, fractured a wrist and broke his nose too) and he realises that patience is going to be required.

Reflecting back to November 20 at the national stadium, he said: “It was a freak incident. I planted my leg and twisted the wrong way.

“Th