HE is yet to start a league game this season but Steven Thompson's presence still looms large over St Mirren.
Perhaps it is symptomatic of the cult following he has built up over the past few years or a critique of the team's performances without him that, without a second's hesitation, all three of the mascots at Saturday's game with Ross County blurted out Thompson's name when asked to name their favourite player.
"Don't worry, he'll be back in a month or so," was the response given to the trio by St Mirren's gregarious matchday compere, as if trying to assuage a concerned mother that her soldier son would soon be back from the front.
St Mirren's problems will not all vanish once Thompson, recently turned 36, returns to action following groin surgery but Tommy Craig's side are certainly missing his presence as they thrash about around the foot of the table to little avail.
Against County they at least managed to break a run of five consecutive home league defeats by twice coming from behind to secure a draw but the message from manager Tommy Craig and his players was that they can still do better.
Thompson scored at least 15 goals in his three previous seasons and those asked to fill that void have struggled to do so. Callum Ball started once more at the apex of the St Mirren attack but again failed to leave a favourable impression. A player signed effectively on the back of scoring four goals in a pre-season friendly against Whitley Bay has managed just two since the competitive action got underway.
The two other forwards recruited in the summer - Ross Caldwell and James Marwood - are yet to muster a league strike between them.
Instead, St Mirren have had to look to less conventional sources for their goals. On Saturday the first came from a header from Adam Drury, the diminutive winger on loan from Manchester City, who now has three for the season.
Their second was netted by an even less likely candidate. Jeroen Tesselaar had not scored at all since first landing in Scottish football in 2011 but it was he who swept home Drury's pass to ensure St Mirren would earn their first home point of the season.
"I knew I had it in me to score a goal but when you are playing left-back most of the time it is difficult to get up the park," said the Dutchman. "That's my first goal since I came to Scotland. Antonio Reguero, the Ross County reserve goalkeeper, is a good friend of mine and I told him on Friday to be there as I was going to score. He wasn't in goal but I still scored so that was good.
"I had been waiting a while for that goal, too long really. My last goal came back when I was playing in Holland. I scored two goals during my time there so three goals isn't a lot of goals for six seasons of professional football. But when you're in the 18 yard-box and the ball comes to you, you just have to finish it."
Any personal delight at finally registering a goal was offset by a sense of disappointment at not winning at home against the team bottom of the table.
"We had to win this game because there was more there for us than just one point," Tesselaar added. "We had to win. We should have won it. We lost two silly goals, made some chances and played some good football. So we're a bit disappointed".
There was disappointment, too, in the County camp as they failed to register their first away win of the season despite twice being ahead via goals from Paul Quinn and Graham Carey.
The draw at least keeps them in touch with the sides ahead of them in the table and, recent thrashing by Celtic aside, continues the gradual progress being made by new manager Jim McIntyre.
"I thought in the two games before the Celtic match we were on the right track," said Carey. "If you take the Celtic game out of things we're undefeated in three. The team is gelling. It's onwards and upwards hopefully.
"It's always a tight league and a couple of results can change things. I'm confident things will turn. The standard in training has been great, we're all pulling in the same direction and working hard for each other."
Quinn, the County defender, agreed. "We had a right go and a team at the bottom of any league in this country would probably jump through hoops for a point away from hom," he said.
"We went home slightly disappointed, that tells its own story."
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