McCart aims to stem the tide again and provide that sinking feeling for visitors
JAMIE McCART is unique among the current crop of eligible St Johnstone defenders in that he has never conceded a goal to Celtic. Granted, he has played a mere 45 minutes against his former club, but, significantly, his introduction served to stem what had turned into an overwhelming tide.
Last season, Saints lost to Celtic by an aggregate score of 0-16 in all competitions. This term, the score reads 0-10 after just two league games. With Celtic three up and looking good for several more, manager Tommy Wright handed McCart, 22, his club debut as a half-time substitute in the last meeting of the sides at McDiarmid Park in late January.
The ploy worked. And that’s why he is a stick-on to start in this afternoon’s Scottish Cup quarter-final.
‘When I came on, the aim was just to not to concede any more,’ recalls McCart. ‘When you go 3-0 down to a team like Celtic a lot of teams fold, maybe chuck it a wee bit and lose five or six.
‘So the good thing was that we showed a lot of character and kept it to three. The gaffer will be telling us that it is paramount we don’t start like that if we’re to have any chance in this game.’
Wright proudly describes the nominal sum paid to Inverness CT for the early release of McCart (left) as ‘the only transfer fee I have ever paid as a manager’ and the player admits he was happy to accelerate his return to Premiership level after 18 months at Caley Thistle.
‘Most boys at Celtic get to a stage when you know you aren’t going to play,’ he admits. ‘It is the toughest of the tough to break through, so the best thing for me was to leave and get games.
‘When you are out on loan you get a taste for the first team and then I wanted that environment week in, week out.
‘I was lucky enough to go to Inverness and play 50 or 60 games.’
Having been forced to sit out matches against his parent club during an earlier loan spell at Caley Thistle, he sympathises with team-mate Tony Ralston’s plight at being ineligible today.
Yet in some ways, Ralston may be happy to be out of the firing line.
McCart trained alongside many of the current Celtic squad during his development and is well versed in the quality of strikers Leigh Griffiths and Odsonne Edouard, who have combined to good effect since Neil Lennon introduced a new formation at the turn of the year.
‘They have been two of the best strikers in the league over the past few years and now they are playing together it makes it even worse for defenders,’ said McCart.
‘They link up well and work hard for the team and I didn’t see any reason why they wouldn’t gel and play well together.
‘I trained with both of them. Give Griffiths half a chance and he is more than likely to score.
‘Edouard came in on
loan while I was at Celtic. It was brilliant for Celtic to get him as a permanent signing and that £9million fee now looks an absolute bargain.
‘He is real quality. You saw that in the game here in the first half when I was on the bench. Some of his play is ridiculous.
‘It is so impressive what he has done, especially to kick on after Moussa Dembele leaving. Those were big shoes to fill. He has more than filled them.’
St Johnstone’s need for new defensive blood was evident throughout a turbulent opening to the season where the club’s well-established traits of organisation and solidity were blown apart by a run of form that plunged the team into relegation trouble.
A December win at Tynecastle in Daniel Stendel’s first game in charge of Hearts served as a turning point and the Perth side have been efficiently moving up the table ever since.
A left-sided foil for Jason Kerr at centre-half, McCart has slotted in well and performed to a good standard in last week’s draw with Rangers.
That result only aided Celtic’s pursuit of a ninth successive championship — but he has extra personal motivation for seeking to knock his old club out of the cup today.
McCart was part of the Inverness team that took on Hearts at Hampden in last year’s semis and found himself on the wrong end of an incorrect offside decision which denied him what would have been a stunning equalising goal.
‘A wee chop, then a chip,’ he recalls. ‘It was disallowed unfairly. I guess I needed VAR…’
McCart’s father Chris doubles as Celtic’s head of youth and has been the dominant influence on Jamie’s career.
Yet his own exploits as a player, notably his involvement in Motherwell’s Scottish
Cup victory in 1991, are rarely discussed.
‘I have heard about that cup final a few times but not from him,’ says Jamie. ‘He doesn’t speak about it much. He leaves that to other people.
‘He hasn’t missed one of my games in ages. He travels straight from youth games to see mine.
‘He is always there for me, without doubt the biggest influence on my career. ’