KOUTROUMBIS STAYS FOCUSED ON BIG PICTURE

JOHNNY Koutroumbis drew on the perspective and mental strength he gained from beating cancer at the age of 20 to fight back from an untimely injury and finally get himself into the Motherwell team.

- By Gavin McCafferty

The Australian suffered a calf injury in pre-season following his summer move from Perth Glory and missed the first three months of the season.

The defender then struggled to get into Stuart Kettlewell’s plans, only making two substitute appearances before being handed a first start in Michael Wimmer's first game in charge in February.

The 27-year-old has come off the bench in the past two matches and looks set to start against St Johnstone tomorrow, given Motherwell are without injured centre-backs Shane Blaney, Liam Gordon and Kofi Balmer.

Patience and hard work has paid off for the versatile defender, but he has fought and won far bigger battles.

“I'm sure everyone probably thought that they were invincible at 20 years old,” he said.