The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Saints determined to be six shooters
It has been 10 years since a St Johnstone player was capped by Scotland. Midfield duo Ali Mccann and David Wotherspoon have figured in the latest Northern Ireland and Canada selections.
But hopes that the Perth club’s historic Betfred Cup win would result in skipper Jason Kerr and goal-scoring wingback Shaun Rooney receiving call-ups were dashed when Steve Clarke unveiled his latest Scotland squad.
Defender Liam Gordon insists the disappointment of the fans was not shared in the Perth dressing room.
But he hopes beating St Mirren to the final top-six spot will strengthen the case for Callum Davidson’s in-form stars to follow Murray Davidson into the Scotland set-up.
Gordon, 24, said: “Obviously when you are a wee boy you have dreams of being involved in a Scotland squad one day.
“It’s a lovely thing to even be talked about in that context. But all the boys here are solely focused on St Johnstone.
“If we go on and finish in the top six you never know what might happen.
“But I don’t think anyone here was focused on a Scotland call-up.
“We are just looking to have a good strong finish to the league season.
“Everyone here has a great attitude and wants to improve, coming in and working hard every day.
“If the prospect of a Scotland call-up motivates any of the boys to work even harder then fair enough.
“It would be an amazing achievement for any St Johnstone player who got the call-up.”
An impressive run of just two defeats in 14 games – to Rangers and Celtic – has turned Saints’ season around.
They are tantalisingly close to securing another top-six finish on the back of the club’s first League Cup triumph.
Victory on home soil against relegation battlers Ross County is a must in the final game before the split.
Then their dream will hinge on St Mirren’s result away to Hamiton Accies.
“We need to go and get three points, nothing less, to get the top six,” said Gordon.
“We don’t want to drop points and then come in and be told we could have got there.
“I don’t think we will be in the relegation battle. But three points also kind of puts that to bed.
“It’s a massive game for the whole club – financially and also for the players.
“We want to be playing in the top six, against the Old Firm, Aberdeen and Hibs.
“It’s massive. We are looking forward to it and we want three points.
“But it won’t be easy against Ross County. They
are a hard team to play and they are fighting for their lives.
“For ourselves and St Mirren, they are hard games. It’s massive for all four clubs involved.
“We know it will be tough but we are prepared and it’s up to us to perform.”
Gordon believes top six would be the perfect reward for keeping the faith, even when they were propping up the Premiership table.
But he admits it was a bumpy ride for boss Davidson and his squad during the opening months of the season.
“You can’t expect a new manager to come in and for everyone to click overnight,” he said.
“I felt like we did gel quickly and we worked hard in training on drills for the system he wanted.
“There were a lot of good
performances but we weren’t getting results.
“But each game, I felt we were getting better and stronger as a unit.
“It just came together. We were being clinical and we stopped losing silly goals.
“We’d been unlucky before that and slowly it’s got better as the season has gone on.
“But not one day did we come in and doubt what the manager wanted to do.
“As players we believed in how we wanted to play and the cup run gave us a lot of belief too.
“The top six is now the aim. We know it’s out of our hands but we just need to get the win and what will be, will be.
“If Hamilton do a job on St Mirren for us, then great. If not, we just keep going on.”
Gordon will not be checking for regular St
Mirren score updates from the Perth bench.
“I’d rather just focus on us trying to get the three points,” he said.
“I don’t think it would be nice if we were drawing and we knew the other game was a draw too.
“It could all get a bit frantic but we are solely focused on ourselves and trying to get a win.
“If things were normal, the crowd would be letting us know the other score.
“Instead, there will just be silence.
“It would have been good to be part of an occasion where the fans were cheering. It would be exciting.
“But all we can do is try to get three points.”
County go into today’s trip to St Johnstone with three points separating them from Hamilton Accies, who occupy the relegation play-off spot.