St Johnstone skipper Liam Gordon has fingers crossed that Nicky Clark remains fit for remainder of the season

Skipper Liam Gordon is praying that star striker Nicky Clark remains fit for the remainder of the season to help fire St Johnstone up the standings.

The experienced forward returned from a recent calf injury in the second half of Saturday afternoon’s 2-1 defeat to Kilmarnock.

Clark wasted little time in showing his worth - and clinical edge - by pulling Saints back into the encounter after losing two first half goals.

It proved not to be enough in the end but getting the 32-year-old back on the pitch was a boost in itself as Saints now head for a crunch clash at Livingston on Wednesday night (7.45pm).

“If you take the main striker out of any team, then they will find it difficult,” Gordon said.

“We all know what Nicky offers. His goalscoring record speaks for itself.

“But it is not just his goals that are huge for us. He is a clever player, links the game to get us up the pitch and starts promising attacks.

“It is great to see him back. Let’s just pray and hope that he stays fit for us because he is a massive, massive player.”

Saints started miserably at Rugby Park at the weekend to trail by two within 17 minutes.

“The first 20 minutes killed us,” Gordon admitted.

“We played some nice stuff later on without creating too many clear-cut opportunities.

“You just cannot start like that. I really don’t know what was going on.

“The pleasing thing was that we were able to recover and showed character to finish strong.

“On another day Tony [Gallacher] scores at the back post and we come away with a point.

“But the sluggish start cannot happen. In this league you will get found out.”

A win against bottom of the table Livingston on Wednesday evening would open up a 10-point gap between the teams.

“Every game in this league is