Bryson: We won’t get carried away with this win

Experienced St Johnstone midfielder Craig Bryson knows the importance of keeping feet firmly on the ground.

While excitement levels are rightly high after advancing to the Scottish Cup semi-final, Saints won’t take their eye off the ball.

Bryson was introduced as a second half substitute on Sunday and helped the Perth club knock out favourites Rangers at Ibrox.

“We’re only into the semi-final, nothing was won, we’re only through to the next round,”Bryson warned.

“You don’t want to get too carried away.

“Of course everybody in the semi-finals will believe they can win it now, with Celtic and Rangers being out.

“And it was kind of the same in the Betfred Cup when we won that.

“We’ve got a good bit of experience of being at Hampden a few times this season, so I’m sure that will stand us in good stead.

“But we’re definitely not taking anything for granted.

“We’re not walking about saying ‘we’re going to win the Scottish Cup’ now just because we put out Rangers.”

Bryson helped anchor the midfield and provided the required energy when legs were starting to tire. He said:“Everybody knows their job. “Even when you’ve not played every game, when you come in you know what’s expected and what you need to do.

“That’s throughout the whole team and the whole squad.

“We’re a very small squad, everybody’s in it together and if you’re not playing you just have to get on with it. I think you see the team spirit, and you need that, to go on and do what we’ve done this season - winning the Betfred Cup, finishing in the top six and coming back on Sunday night like we did.”

Saints’s extra-time equaliser against Rangers brought some hilarity.

The assist came from the head of Zander Clark, who had ventured forward in the 122nd minute to try and force penalty kicks.

Bryson said:“Zander thinks he’s scored it, he’s telling everybody he’s scored it, but I’m not even sure it was going on target!

“At that stage of the game I don’t think we were bothered who scored it.

“I think for the fairy tale it would have been excellent if it had gone down as Zander’s goal.

“I saw him on Twitter asking the dubious goals panel to have a look at it, but I think he will be disappointed when it comes back!”

Bryson added:“I don’t think many people gave us a chance going into the game.

“But we believed that we could go there and actually get the result.

“It was quite incredible because when Rangers scored I think everybody just thought that was game over. We got the corner in the last minute and you just expect the keeper to go up. But I don’t think anybody expects them to score or be involved.

“Usually at that time it just fizzles out to nothing, but luckily for us it was a great cross and Zander’s got his big head right on it.”