Saints are desperate to get going again

Striker says team-mates can’t wait to put horror Celtic loss behind them

After suffering a defeat he described as the worst afternoon of his career, David McMillan is going back to a ground which brings back memories of one of the best.

Following months of injury torment, the St Johnstone striker scored his first goal for his new club against Motherwell.

Of McMillan’s four league goals in Saints colours, three of them have come in Lanarkshire.

So a trip to Fir Park could be the perfect way to get the 6-0 thrashing from Celtic out of his system.

“I have fond memories of Motherwell,” said McMillan, who has found the net twice at Hamilton. “I scored there in a 5-1 win which was probably our best result of the season.

“Macca (Steven McLean) had got his hat-trick to say goodbye. So there was pressure on me.

“It was great coming on after my injury troubles to get my first goal for the club. .

“I have good memories of Fir Park. But we know we are in for a tough game. They are a big physical side. Both teams will be eager for the points. With the Hamilton goals, that part of the world has been good for me. Hopefully it will continue.”

The old cliché about wanting a game to come quickly after a bad result was definitely the case for Saints, who were embarrassed on their own ground in the last fixture before the international break.

“Ideally we’d have wanted a game right away on the back of the Celtic defeat so we could get over it and try to move on,” said McMillan.

“But instead we’ve had two weeks to dwell on it. I’m certainly eager to get going again and so are the rest of the lads.

“It is probably the worst defeat of my career. Looking back, it was difficult to take. It sits with you for a while. It has been there for two weeks and we want to get out there on the pitch and right a wrong.

“The Celtic defeat was unacceptable for everyone at the club. We were sitting there at half time 5-0 down.

“It was the first game I had played here which was live on television and I knew friends and family back in Ireland were watchingit.Itwasahugedisappointment. I was a bit shell-shocked.

“But last season when I came here we got a great result at Celtic Park. We know we can get positive results against the top teams. We actually started the game really well but that might have been to our detriment because we felt we could still take the game to Celtic even after going behind.

“Maybe we should have dug in. But every time they attacked they punished us. Celtic were ruthless but we learn from these games.”

Saints’ brutal run of fixtures has been much talked about but the Perth men can’t afford to start thinking that Motherwell, St Mirren and Livingston will be softer touches.

“We knew we had a tough run of fixtures,” said McMillan. “We started it well enough with a point against Aberdeen.

“We felt we could have won that one and it was a positive enough start to a difficult run of games. But the results against Rangers, Hearts and Celtic have been disappointing.

“We were doing well before this recent tough run. We have to look forward now.

“We haven’t set ourselves any targets. But we are looking to win this one and we are aiming to move up the table in the next few weeks.

“It will balance itself out by the end of the season. People probably expected us to lose these games but it was the manner in which we lost that has been the most painful thing to deal with.”

Blair Alston, David Wotherspoon and Steven Anderson are injury doubts and Danny Swanson is suspended. Tony Watt and Murray Davidson should be available.

And there may be light at the end of the tunnel for Brian Easton.

Manager Tommy Wright reported: “Easty saw a specialist in London this week and has had an injection. He’ll have a week of total rest and if the injection works we can push him on. Then you’d be looking at a month to six weeks to get him back.”

On today’s match, Wright said: “I don’t think I’ll need much of a team-talk. The players were hurting really badly after the Celtic game.

“Their pride was stung. Some of them were probably shell-shocked. They’ve been flying in training this week and now we have to take that into tomorrow’s game.”

Boss Stephen Robinson believes Motherwell have a chance to kickstart their Premiership campaign against Saints today.

The Steelmen drew 1-1 with Livingston before the international break which left them five matches – four in the league – without a win and in 10th place, two points ahead of bottom side Dundee.

With games against Saints, St Mirren and Dundee coming up, Robinson believes there is a possibility to get away from the wrong end of the table.

The Well boss. however, is expecting nothing but a tough game against the Perth side.

He said: “Over the last four or five years St Johnstone have been excellent.

“I don’t think Tommy Wright gets the publicity or credit he deserves and I am not just saying that because he is also from Northern Ireland and I am sticking up for him.

“A club like St Johnstone, continually in the top half of the table, they are going to be a tough nut to crack.”