Success at Pittodrie is not something Saints have enjoyed for some time. While the two clubs were in seperate divisions for most of the 1990s and 2000s, you still have to go back to 1986/87 for our last win there. We've even won the Scottish Cup since then and I would have been at most three years old. We're long overdue some success there.
Will Sunday be the day? Probably not. The last few weeks have shown we're still not capable of scoring goals. We may have scored against Hearts, but that's only because their goalkeeper is almost as bad as Dida. The 4-5-1 didn't even work from a defence point of view last week, although in fairness we did produce some better crossing than we have done. It's once the ball gets into the box that we have problems, and the introduction of Mark Corcoran to the starting lineup - which will surely happen after his goal - could help, especially if he is played up front alongside Billy Mehmet and Stewart Kean.
Realistically, considering our form and record at Pittodrie, Saints boss Gus MacPherson will stick with the 4-5-1 and hope something goes our way. Who'll be playing in defence could be an interesting one of Will Haining fails to make it as the options are at either end of the experience scale. At one end, you have 42 year old assistant manager Andy Millen. At the other, you have the likes of David Barron and Marc McAusland, who have yet to play even a minute for the Saints first team.
As usual, Ian Maxwell, Craig Dargo and Eddie Malone are out, along with recent injury victim Alan Reid. Craig Molloy played in the excellent reserve win during over Kilmarnock the week, but is some way short of fitness. The reserve side are top of the league at the moment. The likes of Mehmet, Alex Burke and Stewart Kean have been scoring for them, but can't seem to do the job when it counts - Mehmet is the only one to have scored for the first team this season.
As mentioned earlier, Aberdeen have been struggling a bit in the SPL this season. They have just one point more than Saints and last week's 2-0 win over Gretna was their first home win since May. This is perhaps good news for us as we're usually more than willing to end such poor runs of form! More good news is the fact that Jamie Smith, their star player, had to be subbed at half time in Thursday's win. Hopefully this will mean he misses tomorrow's match, although they still have several players who could cause Saints problems, such as Darren Mackie and Richard Foster.
Once again I think Saints will struggle to score, and while they may have played in midweek Aberdeen should have more than enough to see off whatever threat we pose. 2-0 to the Dons.