Team-mate has given me food for thought
08.03.2021
SAINTS stalwart Liam Craig has revealed how fellow veteran Craig Bryson is fuelling his bid to become a Perth record breaker by turning him into a whizz in the kitchen.
The midfielder ended an emotional week which began with Betfred Cup glory by bending home a beauty of a winner – his 60th goal for the club – to maintain his side’s late push for a top-six spot.
Three games in six days meant Craig’s tank was empty after making his 425th appearance for Saints, a tally which takes him to within 16 of Steven Anderson’s all-time record of 441.
But the 34-year-old insists that Bryson’s recipe for success is helping him squeeze every last drop of juice out of his body and prove he’s not yet pasta his best.
The win has certainly given top-six rivals St Mirren and Dundee United food for thought ahead of the final game before the split with Saints now two points behind the Buddies and one ahead of United.
Craig also denied Hibs a leveller with a perfectly timed last-gasp tackle on Kevin Nisbet during the second half.
He admitted: “I have had worse weeks, absolutely!
“After the cup final last week and then Hamilton in midweek, it was some effort from everybody to get the win against Hibs.
“We hardly got out of our own half in the second half but we showed we could do the other side of the game as well.
“I really didn’t know if I had three games in six days in me, to be honest, but the manager has rotated the squad loads this season.
“I’ll also need to mention Craig Bryson because he is big on nutrition and looking after yourself.
“He has sent me new recipes every other day.
“I didn’t think anyone would be able to change my diet after all these years.
“It shows how he’s been able to compete at a top level for so long.
“He’s sending me different recipes, pasta sauces and the like, every week. He gave me this spicy sausage recipe the other night. “Vegan sausages as well! I didn’t think he’d ever get me turned on to vegan food but he has. “I think it has really made a difference, definitely. I feel much better. “Even at the end of the game, you are tired but I didn’t feel I had nothing left. “It was a huge performance and we have given ourselves a chance of the top six.” Craig will turn 35 in December but is targeting another year in the top flight, something which could see him surpass Anderson in the Saints hall of fame.
His first taste of glory last week is also driving him on, even if he’s still waiting to celebrate it properly.
The midfielder said: “The aim is to get another year here.
“It will take a lot to top that feeling of last Sunday but I do still think I’ve got a lot to offer, both when I’m on the pitch and in the changing room with the younger ones.
“I’m glad I can contribute with goals as well.
“But I’ll be honest, I was more pleased with a tackle I made on
Nisbet in the second half than I was with my goal.
“It has been a great week for the club. I was back in the house for 6 o’clock after the final having a takeaway with my missus.
“I don’t stick to Craig’s recipes after the game!
“There was a FaceTime with him and Zander Clark.
“That’s what winning a trophy is about in lockdown I suppose – FaceTiming your teamsolidify mates with a beer. There will be a time in the future to celebrate it properly.” Craig curled home the only goal of the game to sink Hibs after 16 minutes when he latched on to Josh Doig’s half-clearance and let fly past keeper Ofir Marciano from 22 yards. It then became a rearguard action for Callum Davidson’s men, who were out on their feet long before the final whistle. Hibs, desperate to their position in third as well as avenge their Betfred Cup semi-final thumping by Saints, threw everything at Clark’s goal but to no avail.
Jackson Irvine twice went close with headers while Joe Newell should have done better than fire wide from 18 yards.
Likewise Paul Hanlon saw a header fly over the bar from six yards and substitute Christian Doidge, who added a focal point to the Hibs attack when he joined Nisbet up front after 55 minutes, had a wellstruck 20-yard shot palmed over the crossbar by Clark.
Craig then had the moment he relished by denying Nisbet as the striker homed in on goal with a perfectly timed sliding challenge to win the ball.
Doig saw two rasping drives from outside the box scrape the woodwork before Paul McGinn was brilliantly denied by a last-gasp block from Jamie McCart deep into injury time.
It was bodies-on-the-line stuff but few could deny Saints the points after an heroic performance to top off an historic week.