Cleary prepared for the battle for survival
ST JOHNSTONE’S place in the Premiership play-offs will be officially rubberstamped this evening if Dundee fail to beat Hibernian at Dens Park. Whether the Perth side’s opponents in the two-legged tie will be Arbroath or Inverness Caley Thistle will only be known at the end of Friday night’s semi-final second leg at Gayfield. But whatever happens, defender Dan Cleary insists he is up for finishing the scrap for survival he readily signed up for when he joined Saints from Irish side Dundalk in January. ‘I knew what I was coming into,’ said the 26-year-old. ‘I knew it would be a tough few months. I was ready for a fight and I haven’t shied away from that! ‘I’m happy that it’s in our hands to stay up. ‘Listen, nobody is happy that we are in 11th position. ‘But from January, we have had some very good results and we have got ourselves off the bottom of the table. ‘Yes, there have been some disappointing results as well, obviously, but, all in all, I think we have improved a lot as a team and we have improved as individuals.’ On Saturday, St Johnstone looked like clinching 11th place, avoiding outright relegation, when Glenn Middleton headed them in front at Livingston. But a last-gasp leveller from Jack Fitzwater salvaged a draw for David Martindale’s Lions at the Tony Macaroni Arena. However, rock-bottom Dundee’s 2-0 loss at St Mirren meant the point earned by the Perth team moved them six points clear of the Dens Park side with two games left. Callum Davidson’s outfit also boast a superior goal difference of plus-seven. Now Cleary is targeting two victories at home to Aberdeen tomorrow night and against Hibs at Easter Road on Sunday to go into the play-offs on form. ‘We are just thinking about winning two massive games in their own right,’ he said. ‘We want to pick up momentum on the back of the draw at Livingston. ‘We don’t want to be a team that is inconsistent from game to game. Our aim is to find a high performance level and maintain it. We lost it with our recent defeat to St Mirren but, other than that, our results have been quite decent of late. ‘We just need to raise our standards and keep them there if we do go into the play-offs.’