JACKO WORKING HARD TO BE READY

Andy Jackson is putting in the hours in a bid to get himself ready for the start of the SPL campaign.

The striker was our top scorer in 2007/2008 with 19 goals but illness followed by serious injury robbed him of most of the Championship campaign. However, he is now determined to put the frustration of the past year behind him and is in the McDiarmid Park gym three or four times a week in a bid to build up his strength.

“I partially ruptured my Achilles so I have spent four months in a heavy cast followed by two weeks in an air cast.

“However, I have had that off for three weeks now and so it is all about getting in the hard work ahead of the rest of the boys coming back at the end of the month.”

Swimming, running and work on the bicycle are all featuring in the Jacko’s recuperation programme and he will have to get the miles in doing all three before he can consider kicking a ball.

“My aim is to be no more than a week or so behind the rest of the guys during pre-season – I think that is realistic given the length of time I have been out. In some ways I suppose the injury has been a blessing as I wasn’t really getting over the illness I had last summer while I was still training and playing but the enforced rest seems to have done the trick and I am feeling much stronger.”

Andy’s most productive spell of the season before last came when he formed a formidable partnership with Kenny Deuchar and the return of the big striker for next season pleases Jackson.

“I’m delighted that Kenny is back as he helped me massively when he was here before. I wouldn’t like people to think that I need Kenny to play alongside for me to get goals but we certainly worked well together before and maybe good things will come of it again.”

Photo: Andy pounds around the McDiarmid Park pitch with colleague Martyn Shields