And, while he knows all will have become clear by three o’clock on Saturday, he admitted to having a lot of waiting and thinking to do.

That Robertson is only a severe doubt with a toe problem was almost the good news, so severe was a tackle in the cup win at Ross County on Tuesday night that also left him nursing a knee problem.

“At the time, I thought he’d done his knee and we were looking at a long, long absence, but it seems to be fine,” said Craig.

“The toe is a problem, but only in terms of whether or not he makes Saturday and, even if he is out for one game, that’s a relief.”

United had been hoping such an absence would have been covered by the return of Morgaro Gomis, but, having recovered from flu, it’s emerged he is still having problems with the calf he hurt at Celtic almost a fortnight ago.

“The flu has masked the injury and Morgaro thought it was fine, but he suffered a reaction when he returned to training and he wasn’t doing anything today.

“It’s now getting very tight for time as far as he is concerned and we’ll need an improvement quickly for him to have a chance.”

Up front, Danny Cadamarteri has a dead leg and, while he should be OK, if he does not recover in time it could mean an earlier-than-expected return for Goodwillie.

He was left out on Tuesday after the weekend incident in a Bridge of Allan nightclub that led to him being charged with assault.

The manager’s anger over him breaking what was a weekend curfew prior to the cup-tie has not subsided, but that will not mean weakening his team by continuing Goodwillie’s punishment if Cadamarteri misses out.

Just to round off Craig’s worries, Andy Webster is again feeling the groin injury that has been the only minus in what to date has been a highly successful loan from Rangers.

“I was a wee bit concerned over having to play Webby twice in a week and he has been feeling it since Tuesday,” he said.

“My guess is he will make it for Saturday, but eventually it could lead to him missing games.”

And, as well as suiting him, he believes the move will also serve former Aberdeen and Ross County man Soutar well.

“The situation we are in means we needed another keeper and I did not want to keep asking (coach) Rab Geddes to go on the bench or be scratching around for a trialist each week for the next month,” he said.

“Soapy has helped us out already this season and I know he is someone we can rely on if we need him, so getting him in suits us.

“From his point of view, he is getting the chance of a game and, at the very least, training properly on a daily basis, and that will give him a better chance of getting fixed up somewhere come January.”

While Douglas could be back in three weeks and Bullock will only miss one game if next week’s appeal against the red card fails, there was no question of Soutar signing up for as little as a month, as Jocky explained.

“As soon as he signs a contract, he is not allowed to move elsewhere before the transfer window opens in January, so there was no way I would have offered him less than to the end of the year.”

Equally, Jocky did not want to bring young keeper John Gibson back from his loan to Elgin City.

“I signed Gibby for the future and I see him as a potential first-team keeper down the line, but he is not ready yet and I want him getting first-team experience out on loan.”

Meanwhile, it has now been confirmed that, although there is no broken bone, striker Colin McMenamin has hurt ankle ligaments and will be out for up to seven weeks.

“The damage is severe and that’s a blow. He may not have scored as many goals as he would have liked, but Colin has been playing very well this season and we’ll miss him.”

The injuries and the taxing 120 minutes against the Dons on Tuesday meant that, even close on 48 hours after the final whistle, as the focus switched to First Division leaders Ross County’s visit on Saturday, the players did only light work in training today.

Stuart McCaffrey still has stitches in his head and, although he came on against Hibs and helped set up Saints’ third goal, he’s still an injury doubt.