SCOTTISH CUP IS THE ORDER OF THE DAY FOR SAINTS BOSS WRIGHT
WHAT you see depends on where you stand. From the perspective of a club regularly and all too easily overlooked, this weekend’s Scottish Cup semi-finals are nowhere near as clear-cut as many believe. St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright is only half joking — we think — when he reveals that chairman Steve Brown ordered him to win a trophy in his first full year at the helm.
Having failed to reach so much as a single Scottish Cup Final in their 130-year history, even the most demanding of dictators couldn’t seriously raise the bar so high with one sudden jerk.
Yet the assumption the Perth side, short on past glories and certainly a little shy in budgetary terms compared to the rest of the Final Four, are here just to make up the numbers is something Wright is eager to challenge.
‘The chairman told me he wanted a cup in my first season as boss so, if we win, I’d only be meeting his target!’ said the Northern Irishman, who knows most of Scotland are expecting an Aberdeen victory at Ibrox on Sunday.
‘I’d be delighted if we can get to
“The players know they can create history”
the Final, win it and create a little bit of history. But it’s not about me, it’s about the players and the people associated with the club.
‘Some people might say Aberdeen getting through is a foregone conclusion but we’re not talking like that. Will I use that as motivation? The only motivation is to win a game of football and get to a final.’
The chance to even play for the magnificent trophy sitting within touching distance at McDiarmid Park yesterday would be a first for Saints, playing in their ninth Scottish Cup semi-final.
For a club without a major trophy to their name — two losing League Cup Final appearances being the closest they’ve come — regular runs to the last four of knockout competitions are taken as a welcome sign of consistency but also a source of frustration. Seven semi-final losses in the last 15 years is a sign of both something going right and wrong in Perth.
Their most recent ‘failure’ to get beyond the semis came in February when Sunday’s opponents dished out a 4-0 hammering to reach the League Cup Final.
Asked if he feels his St Johnstone team have improved since then, Wright quipped: ‘Well, I hope they play better. It’s the same squad but we have Steven MacLean back, James Dunne has come in and Lee Croft has more games under his belt. We’re a bit stronger.
‘You can talk about the club’s semi-final record but (this squad) were only involved in the League Cup one.
‘Some — like Dave Mackay, Chris Millar and Steven Anderson — have been involved in other semis and I’m sure they don’t want to experience it again. They’ll use that as motivation because it’s painful to lose and get so close.
‘This is a magnificent occasion. We have to keep our focus and go in with the right attitude. Once that whistle goes, we’ll deal with whatever Aberdeen throw at us.
‘We lost the last semi because we made too many mistakes and were punished by a very good side.
‘It was 4-0 but we had a lot of possession. We didn’t make enough of those opportunities. That will be one aspect of the game we can work on, decision-making. We’ve got to do ourselves justice.
‘We’ve had some unbelievable performances this season — 4-0 against Inverness Caley Thistle and Ross County and 3-0 against Motherwell. And we’ve had some great European away performances. If we can tap into one of those, we can win the game.
‘We’ve been pretty solid for most of the season, I think it’s 21 clean sheets. We’ve had a couple of games where we’ve made mistakes — but I don’t expect that on Sunday.
‘ I f you go behind against Aberdeen, they make it difficult as they don’t give much away. But the flip side is, if we score first, then we don’t give much away, either. The first goal will be important and I’d rather we get it.’
Saints will travel to Glasgow early on Saturday, training at Celtic’s Lennoxtown training base and staying overnight to be fresh for the lunchtime kick-off.
‘We just tried to change it up a bit,’ said Wright. ‘We didn’t stay over for the League Cup semi.
‘Everything will be as low key as possible because the players already know the importance of the game.
‘ They know they can create history by just getting to the Final, so I don’t need to put any other layers on that. They know how big the game is without me adding to it.’