Joe wishing for a White Christmas

"My knee has been playing up for the last three or four weeks now. I didn't think I was even going to be involved but got pulled in during the week.

Joe Cardle is wishing for a bit of wintry weather to allow him a lay off and the necessary rest for his tendonitis. He will 'celebrate' his 24th birthday this week with a steroid injection that will hopefully assist his recovery and allow him to compete fully.

After training only lightly on Thursday and Friday the midfielder answered his Manager's call to make up the numbers at Ibrox on Saturday but he revealed that he has an appointment on Tuesday to receive further treatment.

"I am going for a steroid jag and I need to rest it for a few days after that. It is just part and parcel of football, you have to take the bad things with the good things. I was happy to play at Ibrox and get a goal."

Two goals from two visits is a good record.

"I scored last season in the cup (Co-operative Insurance League Cup) and it is always nice to score at Ibrox because it is places like Ibrox and Parkhead that I have been watching since I was a little boy. To get a goal was a good feeling."

His knee has been giving him bother for over a month now and caused him to sit out the match against Dundee United at the end of October:-

"My knee has been playing up for the last three or four weeks. I didn't think I was even going to be involved but got pulled in during the week. The gaffer said "to make the numbers up" really so I got a start that I wasn't really expecting. I was happy to get a game but with the injuries that we have got and with three young boys on the bench who have not really been training with us, we are down to the bare numbers."

The injury however has been giving him sleepless nights worrying about the condition and the need for an injection.

"I am in safe hands when I go to Ross Hall on Tuesday. Hopefully after I get this injection then I won't be feeling the pain that I felt on Saturday. I am here to play even though I have been struggling over the last few weeks. The gaffer has asked me to come in and help with the numbers. I thought I'd just be making the bench. I was over the moon to get the start and I just had to worry about my knee. I was happy to get 65 / 70 minutes under my belt. I am not fully fit, you could see that when I was limping towards when I came off."

Tendonitis is caused by overuse. Training as the Club has done recently on astroturf does not help but after the injection and rest Joe hopes to be back in the team and getting a regular run out.

"We tried to rest it over the international break when you are getting two weeks off but you are coming back and you feel it sometimes in training, sometimes you don't. The way it was last week wasn't the best. I just have to get this injection and stay positive."

Against Rangers Joe admitted that the team feared the worst after going two down in 29 minutes:-

"To come to a place like Ibrox with bare numbers you are not really anticipating a result. Then to go two down early on in the game you are expecting it to be three or four. We got back into the game and then put pressure on them so that we could get the equaliser. Unfortunately we didn't get that. The boys gave a good account of themselves and we played some good stuff in the second half."