May puts top-six success down to Davidson
Manager praised for overachieving while changing style and personnel
THE trajectory of St Johnstone’s season means there should not have been too many surprises about Saturday’s sliding doors moments.
Glenn Middleton picked an ideal opportunity to net his first goal for St Johnstone since his loan move from Rangers in January, while Kyle Munro completed the narrative with his late goal for Accies.
The combination of events in Perth, where the home side beat Ross County 1-0, and Hamilton, who drew 1-1 with St Mirren, pushed Jim Goodwin’s side out of the top six when they were just seconds away from landing it for the first time in their history.
It was a cruel finale for St Mirren to lose out on goal difference, but St Johnstone were not of a mind to give that a second thought.
The Perthshire club are becoming accustomed to toasting themselves this term. The Betfred League Cup win has already put silverware in the cabinet and the topsix finish consolidates the suspicion that next season they will be a significant threat.
Veteran forward Stevie May lauded manager Callum Davidson for making Saints a bolder team on the ball and also believes that they will not be resting on their laurels.
“This season we’ve probably played football that’s been better than in the past,” said May. “The squad has changed and so has the way we’ve played. To transition the group of players that did so well for the club for many years into this one and keep the form going and keep over-achieving is a credit to everyone here.
“It’s brilliant. This has been a club that has always overachieved and this is one of the biggest over-achieving seasons yet. To go from where we were to where we are now is amazing.
“You couldn’t have hoped for better. The manager has stuck by the boys and he’s stuck with the way we want to play as well. We’ve mixed it up at times when we’ve needed to and there have been some big performances in big games.
“That’s the sign of a really good team. The only way we can go is up now. Everything is a bonus from here on.”
Catching Livingston will be St Johnstone’s next challenge as they see out the remaining five games. But while everything in the garden looks rosy in Perth, it is in stark contrast to the grim prospect of relegation facing Ross County.
And judging on the evidence presented by John Hughes’ side on Saturday, County look like a team sleepwalking their way to the drop.
They managed one wild effort over the bar, but spent the bulk of the game repelling the hosts. Had Davidson’s side been more clinical and composed in front of goal the winning margin would not have been so narrow.
Hamilton’s point against St Mirren and Kilmarnock’s win means there are just two points between the trio of teams at the bottom of the table. Little wonder then that full-back Keith Watson has urged his colleagues to get a grip of themselves as they prepare for the post-split fixtures next month.
“We have got five massive cup finals now, where we need to give it everything we’ve got to stay in the league,” said the 31-year-old. “We should be fighting to stay in this league, but if we perform like that we’re going to be nowhere near it. Everybody needs to be better if we want to stay in the league.
“I don’t know what the reason for it was, but as a whole it was just a bad day at the office.
“Everybody knows it needs to be better.
“We’ve got a bit of a break now, and we need to get ourselves together and keep fighting because it’s going to be tough.”