SPINNING & WINNING Easton hoping to hear sounds of victory with dressing room playlist
Easton is up for the post-split test Brian Easton hopes to be turning up the volume in the St Johnstone dressing room in the coming weeks.
The McDiarmid defender has been handed the responsibility of selecting the team’s music pre and post match, with getting the squad pumped up before heading out onto the turf the main objective.
Easton, also captain recently in Steven Anderson’s absence, knows how tough a challenge awaits in the remaining five games of the Scottish Premiership season.
But he insists the squad is again ready to hit all the correct notes and said: “I don’t know how I got the role of choosing the music. But I don’t mind it because I like my music.
“I’m in charge of the speakers before the game and, if we get a win, I’ve got a couple of playlists to shove on.
“When you’re in the top six you know the last five games are going to be tough. Playing the two best teams to begin with will be especially tough.
“But we seem to do well against top six teams so hopefully we can continue that and get fourth place done and dusted as soon as possible.
“I think it suits us playing against the bigger teams. We can be organised, hard to break down and be clinical when we get the ball back.
“We can’t look at how good we’ve done in the last few seasons. But we’ll be looking to pick up as many points as we can early doors.
“At the start of the season you look at the top six finish as a benchmark. But the boys in the changing room - and I’m sure the manager - were looking at a top four finish.
“We want to be in among the likes of Aberdeen, Rangers and Hearts. Expectations are creeping up every season. It’s better to have high expectations than low ones.”
If Hibernian lose to Aberdeen in this weekend’s Scottish Cup semi-final, the fourth-placed Scottish Premiership side will be heading for the Europa League.
Even if that is the case Easton knows Saints - who have a four point lead over Hearts - can’t afford to show any form of complacency.
“Hopefully this weekend we’ll know that fourth place will be a European place,” the 29-year-old said. “We have a four point advantage over Hearts and it’s hard to pick up points in the top six.
“But it can be done so we can’t get complacent and think that we’ve done enough. Until it’s mathematically done we keep going.
“So many people around the country must be scratching their heads and wondering what our magic formula is.
But I don’t think we can even tell you.
“But this is a really well run club with a great coaching staff and bunch of boys. We do it year in, year out when I’m sure everyone is expecting us to falter.”
There was disappointment after Saturday’s loss to Aberdeen but Easton says there were positives to take. He was impressed with the return of Danny Swanson.
“I thought Aberdeen played very well in the first half. But we just didn’t start and we made them look good,” Easton said.
“In the second half we really came back into it and were the much better team. It was just unfortunate that we couldn’t get the equaliser.
“You always expect quality from Swanny. His touches and general play is brilliant to watch. All season he has been such a good player for us.
“When he was stepping up to take the penalty there was no doubt that he was going to stick it away. Going into the last five games, in the position we’re in, Danny is going to be big for us. But we’ve got a lot of players who are challenging for places so there is healthy competition.”