Davidson tells Saints to go on and become LEGENDS
CALLUM DAVIDSON last night encouraged his players to write themselves into St Johnstone folklore after a thumping win over Hibs earned a place in the Betfred Cup final.
The Perth side chalked up a 3-0 win over their Edinburgh opponents thanks to goals from Jason Kerr,
Shaun Rooney and Craig Conway that have set up only the club’s third ever League Cup final appearance.
Those previous showdowns resulted in losses to Celtic in 1969 and Rangers in 1998 but with both Glasgow sides already removed from the equation, boss Davidson wants his players to believe they can lift the trophy for the first time in the club’s history.
He said: ‘We’ve put ourselves in the
position now where we’ve got an opportunity, the Old Firm aren’t there.
‘They’ve dominated these competitions for years — and when these chances come around, I think you’ve really got to try and take it.
‘I said that to the players today — and I thought they did.’
St Johnstone will now face the winner of this afternoon’s second semi-final between Livingston and St Mirren at the national stadium next month.
At stake will be the chance to win only the second major honour in the Perth club’s history, the first arriving in the form of the Scottish Cup in 2014.
Davidson was assistant to Tommy Wright seven years ago but was loath to make comparisons in the immediate aftermath of last night’s triumph.
Instead he focused on the fortitude of his players, who withstood first-half pressure from Hibs before set-piece headers from Kerr and Rooney turned the game entirely in their favour.
Saints’ form in the Premiership has been patchy this season but Davidson (right) believes this result was compensation for some hardluck stories.
The St Johnstone boss explained: ‘The players have performed a lot better than results have shown this season but we showed in the second half that we are a good team.
‘I’m so pleased for them. We probably got the little bit of luck we haven’t really had so far this season.
‘We’ve had goals going in off the back of heads and things like that, but we dug in this evening. ‘Zander (Clark) pulled off a great save and a couple of times the woodwork saved us.
‘We dug in and that was really pleasing. Credit to Hibs, they were good but we probably couldn’t get any worse than the first 15 or 20 minutes.
‘Once we got the goal it settled us and we came out and performed really well in the second half.
‘I’m pleased to see us get two goals from set-pieces because we’ve not had enough of them throughout this season.
‘Those two fantastic headers gave us a real good platform for the rest of the game.
‘It’s difficult to say how being in the League Cup final as manager will compare to the Scottish Cup final back in 2014 when I was assistant.
‘I was just worried about this game and I can look forward to the final now.
‘I always say that a cup semi-final is just a game you need to get through to get to the final and give yourself a chance of winning the trophy — and I’m delighted for the players more than anyone else.’