6-0 thrashing can help us beat Gers
Blair Alston was in shock after his first ‘men against boys’ 90 minutes against Rangers six years ago.
But the St Johnstone star is convinced the misery of a 6-0 men against Bhoys home thrashing by Celtic in October was the best thing that could have happened to the Perth men.
Saints went on a 20-point run after that which has given Alston, 26, the belief they can find their first McDiarmid Park win over Gers in eight years today.
Alston, with two goals in his last three appearances coming back from a two-month injury absence, said: “In that 6-0 game we were probably the first team that Celtic played when they just clicked. It could have been 26-0. They took us apart.
“But in a way losing to Celtic was the best thing that could have happened to us.
“From then on we got back to what we’re good at. We were a lot more solid and won five in a row without conceding a goal.
“Okay, the result was embarrassing but that run was better than maybe sneaking a draw against them and then having a few more.”
That defeat to Celtic came hard on the heels of 5-1 loss to Rangers but midfielder Alston (right) insists things will be a lot tighter today.
He said: “We haven’t won in Perth for a while against them but Motherwell hadn’t beaten us in years here either until last weekend so these runs can end when you don’t expect it.
“All the pressure is on Rangers. They’re expected to win and depending on results could be top of the league.
“But we’ve done well before against them when people haven’t given us a chance so there is definitely no fear that they will take five or six off us again.
“We think we have a good chance. We go in thinking there’s no reason we can’t do something and we’re looking for a positive result.”
Former Falkirk star Alston added: “I played Rangers early in my career when they were head and shoulders above Falkirk. It was men against boys. You wondered what was going on.
“But the more you play against them, the more comfortable you begin to feel and it seems like any other game now.
“I’ve actually done pretty well with goals against them for both Falkirk and Saints so I hope I have done enough in the last couple of weeks to get a start.”