Canning welcomes Crawford and Mackinnon back from injury
The midfield duo haven't features for the Accies this year
Hamilton boss Martin Canning has been given a boost ahead of Wednesday's clash with St Johnstone as midfield duo Darian MacKinnon and Ali Crawford are set to from injury.
There were early suggestions that MacKinnon, 32, could be out for the rest of the season when he injured his knee in the 2-1 defeat against Dundee on January 27.
Crawford, 26, picked up a knee injury in the 3-1 win over Motherwell late in December, and has not played for Accies since.
However, both are fit again and in contention for the upcoming Premiership trip to St Johnstone, where ninth-placed Hamilton they will look to extend their lead of eight points over rock bottom Ross County.
"Ali played the other night in the under-20s game. He is a little bit stiff but no issues,'' said Canning, who revealed that defender Alex Gogic was on Friday undergoing an operation on a knee problem sustained last month.
"Hopefully Ali will train Saturday, Monday and Tuesday and be involved in the game on Wednesday.
"Darian has been doing great, he has trained all week and I don't see any issues with him and he should be involved on Wednesday.
"We thought Darian would be eight to 10 weeks and this is seven weeks so he is a little bit ahead, but the way the rehab has been going we expected it.
"But when he first did it we thought he could potentially miss the rest of the season so it is a great boost to have him back.
"When you look at the importance of those players, Darian has been a leader for the past couple of seasons and Ali has arguably been our best player the last couple of seasons, so to get both of those back into the squad at a crucial time is a big boost to everybody.
"You do miss them and I am sure every manager says it but it is an opportunity to step up.
"Young Lewis Ferguson has got his opportunity, he has been excellent in games and so has Ross Jenkins and Temps (David Templeton) has dropped back in. We will need to use the whole squad so it is good to have numbers back.
"Alex is in (on Friday) for his operation so hopefully he will be back on the road to recovery after (Friday).'