We finally managed to end our home hoodoo against the Saintees at the start of the month, seeing them off to progress in the Scottish Cup. It was long overdue as we hadn't beaten them in Paisley since 2004, even failing to win when they were reduced to nine men back in December. Our record in Perth is slightly better - we did manage a couple of wins there last season - but it's still not exactly something to get too excited about. We lost there in October despite being on a good run but we are capable of taking something from this game, providing everyone is at their best. Many Buddies see the two Saints as been similar in status but their league position and squad shows that at this minute in time (to quote Danny Lennon) they are the better side. We will go as underdogs, which usually suits us just fine.
As far as I'm concerned this is it in terms of our top six chances. Our hopes at the moment are slim at best but failing to win tomorrow would as good as kill them off. Last week against Hibs was a glorious opportunity missed - had we won it the gap would still have been four points. Instead it's seven and we're still second bottom. We have just seven games before the split. If we can get it back down to four by tomorrow night then we have a chance, but if we lose then it's as good as over and we need to focus on trying to avoid finishing second bottom.
Last week against Hibs we were poor, to put it mildly. Hibs weren't a lot better but they still managed to look better than us, which is worrying. Everything was too pedestrian, there was no urgency and our passing and ball control were poor. We'll need to improve a great deal if we're to have a chance tomorrow - St Johnstone did thrash Hibs at Easter Road the other week after all! League Cup final places are up for grabs and every player should see this, and the next few games, as their chance to cement their place in the starting 11 at Hampden.
Saturday was probably the fewest amount of chances we have created all season. I can remember us having two decent ones in the first half and none at all in the second. This wasn't really the fault of the strikers - Ismael Goncalves has shown he can create something out of nothing after all - so perhaps a change in midfield is needed. Many people questioned why John McGinn didn't start so it may be time for him to come into the team while hopefully we will have Gary Teale back from injury.
Despite the performance last week it should be pointed out we only lost a goal due to a penalty - and in fact in our last four games we've only conceded two goals, both too penalties. That suggests the defence and the goalie isn't doing too badly (we'll gloss over the fact one of our defenders gave away the penalty last week!). There's no reason to think things won't stay the same as they were last week, with David Barron and Lee Mair once again benched. The problem for the most part has been at the other end. No goals in the last two games is worrying and something we need to put right quickly.
St Johnstone boss Steve Lomas has hinted a few times in the past that his side are punching above their weight. While that's perhaps a bit over the top, his efforts during his 18 months or so in the McDiarmid Park hotseat must have a few other SPL chairmen wondering why their managers can't produce similar results on bigger budgets. The Saintees are currently fifth, just three points off second and eight points above us following the midweek draw against Celtic, so a return to the top six is looking more than likely - and they may even make it into Europe for the second year running. Not bad for a manager who looked favourite to win the sack race after the first few games of the season. Unsurprisingly his efforts have seen him linked with a move down to England but that now looks unlikely to happen until the summer at the earliest.
Lomas seems to like going with a rather attacking line-up and it's not a surprise to see him fielding three strikers these days. Admittedly, Rowan Vine seems to be used in a slightly deeper role but that doesn't mean he can't score, as Hibs found out the other week when he scored twice against them. Operating in the more traditional roles are Gregory Tade and Steven MacLean, both of whom were guilty of shocking misses during the Scottish Cup clash. Nigel Hasselbaink came on that day with a point to prove to his old fans and while he didn't score, he was a bit of a nuisance to our defence. He's already scored against us once this season so he'll be a threat again tomorrow, even if he has to sit on the bench to wait his chance. The Saintees also have a new forward at their disposal after signing former Newcastle youngster Marcus Maddison.
And if his strikers aren't doing the job then Lomas can be safe in the knowledge his midfielders are more than capable of scoring. Murray Davidson has six goals and the Scotland international looks set to leave in the summer - and could miss tomorrow through injury - while Liam Craig, another goal threat, has already decided to up sticks and sign for Hibs in the summer. The Saintees and the Hibees are pretty evenly matched at the moment so time will tell if that's a good move or not. Ex Morton man Chris Millar has also hurt us - and been sent off against us - in the past while Paddy Cregg is another former Buddie out to stick it up his former employers, having done little while at Greenhill Road during Danny Lennon's first season in charge. Despite having a pretty good midfield that was where Lomas decided to focus his attentions during January, bringing in Gwion Edwards, Michael Doughty and Mehdi Abeid on loan from Swansea, QPR and Newcastle respectively.
The main reason we didn't win the nine man game earlier in the season was Alan Mannus. While our finishing should have been better, the goalie was in magnificent form and made some fine saves. He's been involved in the Northern Ireland set-up recently and must fancy his chances of becoming their first choice keeper. In front of him Steven Anderson is fairly reliable, whether he is partnered by Frazer Wright or David McCracken, while Dave MacKay likes getting up and down the right flank with ease. On the other side of defence Callum Davidson is in his final few months in Perth after being told he won't be offered a new contract, which may be why Tam Scobbie has been getting more of a run there in recent weeks.
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