Jimmy Thelin offers Aberdeen injury update as boss keeps it cautious with returning star

Aberdeen boss Jimmy Thelin has confirmed Jack MacKenzie is back in training but he won’t be involved against St Johnstone

The left-back has missed the last couple of games with injury. Thelin believes tomorrow’s home clash comes too soon and would rather give him the extra time and make sure he is 100 per cent for the Hibs game later this month. Thelin said: “He's ok and he trained on Friday but we think it's too early for him to come back. We don't want to rush things and risk getting a set back before another busy spell of games. There's a two week gap between matches after St Johnstone and we can recover really well for those.”

Thelin also brought Dante Polvara back off the bench against Celtic. The Swede also plans to be cautious with the returning American. He confirmed: “It's good but we have to take it step-by-step as he's been out for a long time. But he has shown qualities in the training sessions and in the 15 minutes he played against Celtic. So we just have to manage his comeback so that he can be ready to compete after next weekend's break.”

Aberdeen are looking to get back to winning ways against St Johnstone. They want to end a recent run of four games without a win. The Dons still remain second and Thelin has insisted nothing has changed. He explained: "For us it's more about being optimistic about the schedule and getting as much energy as possible.

"I always think you have to have a strong belief in what you're doing and it's not over till it's over. It's what happens over the season that's our target and nothing has really changed for us.

"This is still a long term journey, we always think game-by-game and see where we end up in May. There are no easy games in this league but we always have to