Rather surprisingly, the game at McDiarmid Park saw both sides finish with ten men. Considering a friendly earlier this decade saw both sides have two players sent off and a game at Love Street a few years back saw St. Johnstone finish with eight men, this is quite a remarkable achievement! Tackles will undoubtedly be flying in tomorrow night due to the importance of the tie and it really will be the battle of the Saints.
The chances of a red card happening at some point will increase if Andy Millen starts for the Buddies. He isn't exactly flavour of the month with some of the Saintees fans or players - particularly Peter MacDonald - and they would love to wind him up so that he gets sent off or see one of their players perform a crunching tackle on him. The chances of Millen starting are pretty good considering he played for an hour on Saturday after John Potter's injury. Potter will almost certainly miss out, while there are still doubts over Will Haining's fitness. Hopefully he'll return or we'll switch to a system that ensures Millen can't play. More than anything else, he surely can't play twice in such a short space of time.
Saturday's goal hero will have to make do with a place in the stands as Jim Hamilton has already played for Dunfermline in this season's competition. Billy Mehmet is likely to replace him, while Mark Corcoran could also return. There's also a decent chance Stephen McGinn could be dropped after an indifferent performance against Hearts. If the system stays the same, Hugh Murray would slot into his midfield slot perfectly. Stephen O'Donnell and Richard Brittain are still out, while fellow midfielder Andy Dorman will be hoping to do better with any chances that come his way than he did with his efforts on Saturday.
St. Johnstone may be a first division side, but they have a number of players who could easily play at a higher level. Former Chelsea player Jody Morris will surely only be with them until the end of the season, while Andy Jackson has been excellent up front this season and Paul Sheerin has scored a shedload of goals from midfield. A number of their loan players have been outstanding and will surely be given a chance in the SPL when they return to their parent clubs in the summer. Liam Craig scored in the original tie and will be hoping to make an impression at Falkirk next season, while Caley Thistle's veteran playmarker Barry Wilson could make an impact in the Saintees midfield.
It's going to be a tight tie tomorrow and could even go all the way to penalties. The only prediction I'll make is that Saints will definitely go through!