The summer signing returned on Wednesday from a month-long loan at Raith Rovers, designed to get him match fit after he dislocated a shoulder during the pre-season tour of Ireland.

Casalinuovo’s performances for the Kirkcaldy men have convinced Craig he is ready for a competitive start in Tangerine.

“Damian has scored two goals in three games for Raith, played very well and come back here itching to get started for us,” he said.

“The idea of the loan was to get him to that point and it could hardly have worked out better. He is definitely in my thoughts for tomorrow.”

While the manager’s words have made that crystal clear, not so obvious is who else will be lining up at McDiarmid Park.

There are still doubts over injury victims Morgaro Gomis, Scott Robertson, Danny Cadamarteri and Andy Webster.

“Right now, I don’t know who I’m going to have, so, instead of naming the team as I normally do on a Friday, I’ll wait until the morning.

“Morgaro’s calf has not really improved and I’d say he now has no chance. I am hopeful Scott will make it, but, if he does not, I will completely change the system we play.

“With Danny, it just depends how deep his dead leg is and, with Webby, the one plus is he has been playing through this groin-cum-hip thing that’s been bothering him.

“It’s likely to be a case of him playing tomorrow and then us resting him next week to get it clear.”

Craig felt enforced changes cost his side when they suffered a first league defeat of the campaign against Motherwell last weekend and knows coping better this time out is a must.

“What hurt us was that in Morgaro and Scott we lost two players in the same area. Losing last week, though, makes this a big game for us and we know this is a big game anyway.

“They are still looking for their first win in the league, but, the way they’ve been playing, they should have won a couple of their games so far. They’ve been good, and that was shown by their result in the cup on Tuesday, because not many teams go to Hibs and win by two goals.”

Boosted by their Easter Road success, Saints boss Derek McInnes is relishing a meeting against his old club and turning good play into points.

“It’s a derby and, as well as the management and players looking forward to the match, so are the supporters,” he said.

“We’ve been the better side in the majority of the games we’ve played and our performances have been really pleasing.

“If we play like we have been, I hope we get the right result. We’re boosted by our cup victory over Hibs and it’s important we get the win.

“United are a good, established top-six side, who have ambitions of doing even better, and they have more experienced players at this level.”

Martin Hardie is back in the squad after missing the Hibs game due to injury and Stuart McCaffrey could return to the starting line-up after dropping to the bench on Tuesday because of a head knock.

Tomorrow’s game is not all-ticket and United fans have been allocated the two stands behind the goals at McDiarmid.

One stumbling block to him being on duty at Perth tomorrow, however, will be getting international clearance through in time.

“Although he left Norwich a while ago, the way it works is his registration stays with the association down south until he gets another club,” explained United boss Craig Levein.

“When you are signing a player, it usually takes a couple of days to sort that out, but, if we can get it done, I would consider him for tomorrow.”

That left the pain of knowing had rookie referee Thomas Robertson got the decision right first time, the Dark Blues would not have had to play 85 minutes with 10 men and could have come away from Palmerston with points instead of a 2-0 defeat.

The first thing boss Jocky Scott did today, though, was acknowledge that the ref had done the right thing.

“I do have to say to the referee ‘great’, because he’s held up his hands and admitted it was not a goal-scoring opportunity and Bully should have stayed on the park,” said Jocky, who never argued with the validity of the actual penalty decision.

“I would add, though, that, while it’s great that Bully can play tomorrow, it does nothing to change the result last week.

“The boys played very well despite being down to 10 men for so long and, if it had been 11 against 11, it could have been a different result.”

The successful appeal means Bullock will be between the sticks against his old club, while the other former County keeper at Dens, the newly re-signed Derek Soutar, will be on the bench.

And, while victory over Aberdeen in the Co-Op Cup on Tuesday was a high, Jocky left his players in no doubt a win tomorrow is more important.

“I was pleased for the boys the other night, because they put in a performance that was even more convincing than the score suggested and, when the game went to extra time, I was concerned they wouldn’t get the win they deserved,” said Jocky.

“They did and I was delighted for them, but that does not change the fact tomorrow’s game is much more important for us.

“The league is our bread and butter — it is our No. 1 priority. Ross County are top and, if we beat them, we will be just behind them and that is where we have to be tomorrow.”

Injury victims Rab Douglas and Colin McMenamin both miss out, but, while there were a few other bumps and bruises from the Aberdeen tie, everyone else should be OK.