We’re here again. Back at that time of year when managers and players bring out the big book of cliches as they prepare for the final knockings of the football season.
Everyone is taking things one week at time. Nobody is getting ahead of themselves. It’s always the same.
For St Johnstone? Well, they’re now in every-game’s-a-cup-final territory. It’s just a shame that they don’t have an actual cup final to look forward to — Celtic saw to that in quite brutal fashion last Sunday — as, in all likelihood, it’s going to be a grim few weeks for everyone connected with the Perth side.
They are staring down the barrel of relegation from the Premiership for the first time in over two decades. It’s a sad state of affairs for a club which has brought so much to the top tier, but it would take a brave soul to predict anything other than Championship football being the staple diet at McDiarmid Park come August.
Yet, despite their deficiencies — and there are plenty of them — confidence has never been much of an issue. In fact, belief hasn’t wavered within the squad since Simo Valakari first walked through the door in early October.
And it’s probably a big factor in why their fate has not already been sealed.
St Johnstone manager Simo Valakari maintains belief that his side can avoid relegation
Callum McGregor got on the scoresheet as Celtic hit five against the Saints at Hampden
McDiarmid Park could soon see the return of second-tier football for the first time since 2009
It will therefore be interesting to see if last week’s 5-0 skelping at the hands of Brendan Rodgers’ Treble-chasers will have any knock-on effect on the players as they take to the field against Motherwell this afternoon.
Twenty league defeats from 33 outings is a dismal record. But, under Valakari, there haven’t been too many occasions when his team have been uncompetitive.
Celtic hit four without reply in December, while Hibernian made light work of things at Easter Road at the tail end of last month. Aside from those meek displays, St Johnstone have been in almost every other contest.
But, as the table shows, when the team are shooting themselves in the foot every other week at one end and failing to take chances at the other — Makenzie Kirk is top scorer with seven — things are destined to end in disaster.
All the talk coming out of the club in the build-up to the trip to Fir Park has been bullish, as you would expect. Valakari insists there will be no Hampden hangover, and that the players remain confident of pulling off a minor miracle.
Anything other than three points today might just be enough to finally burst their bubble.
Surface tensions between relegation rivals
Since getting the better of Kilmarnock on the first weekend of March, Ross County have fallen off a cliff. Four games, four defeats.
The way things are going, manager Don Cowie can’t afford to have a go at his players. No point in kicking them while they’re down, is there? So he might as well chuck some jibes in the direction of this week’s opponents then. See what sticks.
Kilmarnock manager Derek McInnes has hit back at criticism over the Rugby Park surface
Many visiting teams have struggled to get to grips with the plastic pitch in recent years
Cowie’s assessment of Killie’s much-maligned plastic pitch in the build-up to today’s trip to Rugby Park was less than complimentary. Needless to say, he’s not a fan.
He pointed to Kilmarnock’s home record as proof of its negative impact on its visitors every other week. And while that theory would have stood up to scrutiny last season when it provided the bedrock to their push for European football, it hasn’t offered much in the way of an advantage this time around.
County won on it in January. Indeed, they’ve come out on top in all three games against Derek McInnes’ men this season.
Cowie’s opposite number was never going to let the criticism slide, describing the surface up in Dingwall as ‘awful’ on their last visit to the Highlands. Shots fired.
Given that both sides find themselves perilously close to the dreaded relegation play-off spot, this was a fixture that didn’t require any extra needle to help ramp up the tension. But it’s a welcome addition nevertheless.
Robson going under the radar at Raith
In Scott Brown and Neil Lennon, the Championship managerial roster boasts two of Scottish football’s most decorated and most talked-about characters.
Ayr United and Dunfermline — and the league as a whole for that matter — should consider themselves lucky to have them.
But it shouldn’t be forgotten that there is another former Celtic midfielder standing in the dugout this year, and what a job he’s doing.
Barry Robson has guided Raith Rovers to the brink of the play-offs with two games remaining
When Barry Robson took over at Raith Rovers in late December, the club were eight points off the play-offs and lacking any sense of direction following the surprise departure of Neill Collins.
It wasn’t a perfect start by any stretch, suffering three league defeats on the bounce. But, slowly but surely, Robson has steadied the ship.
Last week’s dramatic late win over league leaders Falkirk extended Raith’s unbeaten league run to eight and has moved them within touching distance of the play-offs.
They take on Morton this afternoon looking for the win that would keep their unlikely promotion dream alive going into the final day.
