MURRAY: Next two games will be crucial

St Johnstone midfielder Murray Davidson reckons the next two fixtures will be crucial in terms of the club’s finishing Scottish Premiership position.

The Perth squad travel to face Hamilton on Saturday afternoon before welcoming Hearts to McDiarmid Park on Wednesday.

If Saints record a victory in South Lanarkshire, and then do the business against the Jambos, it could open up an eight point gap in fourth.

Hearts take on Celtic this weekend and Davidson said: “It’s an important stage of the season and every point is crucial.

“The next couple of games could be crucial as to where we finish. That starts on Saturday and we know it’s a big game.

“It’s always an extremely difficult game down there on the artificial surface. They beat Aberdeen a while back so they are strong at home.

“It’s up to us to play well and if we do that we are more than capable of getting a result.

“We’re a couple of points ahead of Hearts and it’s in our own hands. If you look back a couple of months Hearts had a big lead on us. But if you aren’t at it week in, week out then you won’t pick up results.”

Davidson says cementing top six is an impressive achievement on its own. But he wants fourth.

“We want to finish fourth and that has to be the aim,”the 29-year-old said.“You want to finish as high as possible.

“It doesn’t matter if you are fighting relegation or going to win the league, there is always pressure.

“This is another good achievement and there is no reason we can’t finish fourth. It’s up to us to prove it.”