PLENTY LEFT IN THE TANK
Millar eager to put in the miles and extend Saints stay
Chris Millar is determined to remain a St Johnstone player for the foreseeable future after insisting there is still plenty left in the tank. The 33-year-old midfielder is on the brink of a new one-year deal with the club, which will be triggered by playing three more games this season. Experienced striker Steven MacLean signed a new contract earlier this week and now Millar, who joined Saints in 2008, wants to follow in his footsteps and extend his time at McDiarmid Park. He told the Perthshire Advertiser: “I just need another three games for the contract extension to kick in. “I am over the
Millar wants to stay for years to come injuries I had and I want to be here, 100 per cent. I’m dying to reach that game threshold to trigger a new deal.
“I was given a new regime under the physio Tony Tompos when he came in and it seems to be working for me.
“I have been training and available for all the games, even when the gaffer has decided not to pick me. He has been looking after me and making sure I am right.
“Of course it was a worry when I was struggling to shake off those strains. But I always took it game by game. I knew the situation with my contract but I didn’t want it to prey on my mind.
“I love being with the boys and getting out on the training field and playing. I am still enjoying my football. And I still think I have a few years left in me and I want to be at St Johnstone. There’s plenty left in the tank.”
Millar is hoping to feature against Partick Thistle in the Scottish Cup last 16 this weekend at McDiarmid. It’s a competition which will always hold significance for the midfielder.
“The Scottish Cup is still special to me, especially after we won it three years ago,” said Millar. “At the start of any season, you see it as a chance to win silverware — and that’s even more the case here having won it.
“We have also reached plenty of semi-finals in my time here, so we know how to get to the latter stages of cup competitions.
“We seem to be a good cup side. Hopefully that continues. I would love to reach another cup final before I finish playing.
“It maybe wasn’t the worst draw we could have got but it certainly wasn’t the best either. Partick will be a tough game. It always is.
“They dominated stretches of the last game at their place but we found a way to win, which is always good.”
That recent league game between the teams, where Saints triumphed 1-0 at Firhill, ended with Thistle defender Christie Elliott receiving a red card for a kick-out in the final minute.
“I don’t think there will be any niggle hanging over from the last game,” Millar said. “We just used our experience in going to the corner to play out the last few minutes.
“Their frustration maybe spilt over with the red card but Partick will be coming with
confidence thinking they can get result against us.
“They are a better side than their league position would suggest.
“You can only judge teams when you go up against them — and I really do rate Partick Thistle.
“They might lack a cutting edge at times and that has maybe hindered them. But they play good football and are nice on the eye.
“I read Sean Welsh’s comments after the game against us and he was saying they saw us as role models in the sense that we manage to find ways to win games.
“That’s why we have had success over the last five or six years and we want more.” Chris Millar