WE enjoyed a real boost against Hamilton last week as Kallum Higginbotham, Gary Fraser and Sean Welsh made their comebacks and I am sure the fans were delighted to see them all in the squad.

They add a bit of quality to an area of the team that is certainly one of our strongest - midfield.

The way we want to play, it is crucial that we have a lot of good players for that area of the pitch.

You do get injuries and suspensions over the course of the season so you need several options.

Abdul Osman has been one of the constants for us this season and you can't underestimate how important he is or the job he does.

He gives us a bit of protection and allows our creative players to get further up the pitch.

The fact that Welshy is nearing full fitness is really encouraging. He will be like a new signing for us because of the length of time he has been out.

It has been a really frustrating time for him and it has been great to see him back on the training pitch.

He has played a couple of Under-20s games and hopefully we can get him fully up to speed soon.

Gary is a really talented player and I have said a few times how important he is to the team. He has had a good week of training behind him this week. On the flip side, it is disappointing to lose Stuart Bannigan for today's game with St Mirren after our appeal against his red card against Celtic was rejected.

In his position and the way he plays, he is always going to get a few cautions and probably a couple of red cards as well.

You can't stop players like him playing that way, that is what makes them what they are.

Losing Stuart shows how important it is to have a good squad of players.

It is crucial that we have got competition for places in there and the problem is that there are going to be good players left out or on the bench, like Ryan Stevenson is at the moment, which is unfortunate for him.

James Craigen is the perfect example of how to go in and take your chance.

His energy levels are great and he gives us a different option. He makes runs beyond the striker and it was good to see him get his goal last week.

He deserves it and I think the run of games have helped him. The same applies to Christie Elliott.It is always hard to leave players out, but that is the call we will have to make once again today.