Tomorrow is the sixth anniversary of our triumph in the 2000 first division race, when a 3-0 win over Raith Rovers was enough to clinch the title. Of course, the title is already in the bag this time around, with the game being something that needs to be dealt with before the party can fully begin. Therefore, whilst Love Street will be packed, it should be empty of tension as most Buds will be relaxed.
At the moment we're level with the points tally achieved by the title winning squad of 2000, so anything other than defeat would take us past it. A win would put us sixteen points clear of second place, which would be incredible considering how worried some people (such as me) were about our chances a few months ago!
Despite it being a meaningless game, St. Mirren are expected to field a relatively strong side. Craig Hinchcliffe is the only person definitely missing through injury, although there isn't much chance of Brian McGinty, Ian Maxwell or Mark Corcoran making the squad. Hugh Murray, David van Zanten and Kirk Broadfoot aren't too far away from missing the first game of next season and may therefore be rested. Goal machine Billy Mehmet should keep his place in the side after scoring last week, whilst Mark Reilly should feature at some point in his last game before retiring from professional football.
St. Johnstone may take the chance to play some fringe and youth players tomorrow, although they'll want to end the season on a high and ruin our day. There is apparently some bad blood between the two sides (surely not!) after we beat them in the Reserve Cup Final during the week, so this may not be a dull, end of season game. If St. Johnstone manager Owen Coyle names himself in the starting lineup again he can be sure of some abuse, whilst Kevin James may get some cheers for his fine own goal against Queen of the South a few weeks back that ended the Fakes title chances.
Prediction? Does anyone really care? Oh, all right, a 1-1 draw with Andy Millen scoring a penalty for us.