 Jamie MacDonald has been dogged with injuries and most recently he was out of contention for a game for three months with ankle ligament problems. He is now hoping he gets a run of good luck as he bids to claim the number one spot at Hearts. He was back in action against Rangers at Tynecastle last week as Janos Balogh and Marian Kello were out of action. As he prepared for tomorrow's game against St Mirren, MacDonald is hoping that his injury problems are behind him. He said: "I'm due some luck. The last 18 months have been a bit of a nightmare injury-wise. There have been too many injuries to name, the most recent one was ankle ligaments which kept me out for three months. I had tendinitis in my knee and tore my ligament in my hand so it has been one thing after another and it has obviously been very difficult. The injuries have not really avoidable, they have all been down to misfortune. The last one happened when I took a cross and landed, the ankle went. There was nobody near me, it was just an unfortunate incident. I've never really had the chance to stay in the team for any length of time so now is a good chance. When I have been fit I have been dropped, even though I felt I did okay. That was quite hard to take and your confidence does go down a little bit. But different managers have different views of different players. I will be looking to keep a clean sheet against St Mirren and take it from there and hopefully get a long run in the team." Manager Jim Jeffries is challenging his side to secure a top-six place with a win over the Buddies but the carrot of a fifth-place finish offers a possibility of a European slot. This would mean some early games in their 2010/2011 campaign. However, the prospect of returning to pre-season training early does not faze MacDonald. He said: "As players you want to be in the top six and play against the best teams. There is also a slim chance of playing in Europe by getting fifth. If you ask any player it would be worth coming back early. The break is long enough with this season finishing early, so it won't make much of a difference. You want to play at the highest level and I think European football is as high as you get." |