St Johnstone fear losing Murray Davidson through injury

St Johnstone's Murray Davidson went off injured in Armenia

St Johnstone fear midfielder Murray Davidson may miss most of the season after he suffered suspected knee ligament damage against Alashkert.

Davidson hobbled off during his team's 1-0 defeat in Armenia and manager Tommy Wright said he would undergo a scan on his return to Scotland.

"It's a major concern," Wright told BBC Scotland. "Initial reports could be his cruciate ligament, so that isn't good.

"He's distraught and I'm looking at losing him for most of the season."

Davidson's career has been constantly interrupted by injuries and the 27-year-old missed out as St Johnstone lifted the Scottish Cup in 2014 after undergoing knee surgery.

And he suffered a head cut in the opening minutes against Alashkert that forced him out of the game for nearly seven minutes.

Davidson returned to the field bandaged but was substituted shortly before half-time.

"It was not the head knock that took him off," explained Wright. "He felt something go in his knee. It doesn't take away the disappointment of our defeat, but it puts it into perspective.

"He's someone who has gone through the mill with injuries. Hopefully the early reports are wrong, but it doesn't look great."

St Johnstone were disappointing in their first half display

Wright reckoned that Davidson's injury explained his side's poor start to the game.

"I don't think we were helped with the early injury in the first minute or so to Murray Davidson," he said.

"For that period, we were 10 men and, in that period, we didn't keep the ball and we gave them a foothold in the game and gave them a bit of a lift.

"The goalkeeper made a good save from David Wotherspoon, but they were certainly better than us in the first half."

However, Wright was pleased at the way his side responded to Mihran Manasyan's goal in the 60th minute.

"It almost took the goal for us to react and to kick into gear and that's disappointing," he said, insisting that his side had not underestimated opposition making their debut in European competition.

"Once we went behind, I think we were the slightly better side, moved a lot quicker and created a few opportunities.

"Unfortunately we couldn't get that goal, which would have been a really good result away from home, but we are only 1-0 down and the tie is very much alive."