Saints stay hopeful goal hero Kane will sign up once again

Never has a player who scored as important a goal been put under as dim a spotlight, writes Eric Nicolson.

Such is the rarity of a goalkeeper producing an assist in a high-profile match like Sunday’s battle of the domestic double hopefuls, it is little wonder that the world and his wife only wants to talk and write about Zander Clark’s heroics.

But Chris Kane’s last-gasp equaliser against Rangers to take St Johnstone into a Scottish Cup semi-final will get the credit it deserves from the person who matters most – his manager.

“Kano was brilliant and I was delighted for him to score,” said Callum Davidson.

“Zander is taking all the praise for it but he should have scored it in the first place – it was a lot of neck movement for not much power.

“It was exactly the type I want to see Kano score, being there in the right place at the right time to tap it in.

“It’s probably the biggest goal he’s scored in his career but Zander is taking all the limelight off him.

“Kano won’t mind though and you saw from his celebrations how much it meant to them all.

“He ran after Zander and I think he was trying to tell him he’d had the final touch, but it doesn’t matter now.

“He epitomises what our team is all about, he works so hard and puts his body on the line.”

A combination of hard work with Steven Maclean and regular Premiership football have resulted in Kane becoming the crucial part of Davidson’s team he now is.

“He’s done a lot with Macca on the training pitch, working on his movement and getting into those positions so when the ball does break, he’s in the right place,” said the Perth boss.

“His link-up play is a lot better now, he holds the ball in well and brings other people into play.

“He’s improved a lot this season. You can see the benefit he’s got from playing games and getting confidence.

“We have shown belief in him, he’s played a lot of games in a row and that has brought him on.

“In the past he was always in and out of the team, he never really got a proper run at it.

“He was injured at the start of the season but worked his way back into the team.

“It has taken him a long time to become a regular and I think there’s still more to come from him.”

Stevie May’s new two-year deal has been confirmed by the club and Davidson is optimistic it won’t be long before Kane follows his fellow attacker’s lead.

“We are speaking to him and hopefully we’ll get it over the line,” he reported.

“I’d love him to stay and I’ve told him that.

“I don’t think it’s too far away, so I’d like to think we’ll get it done soon.”

Reflecting on Saints’ last-eight triumph against Steven Gerrard’s Premiership champions, Davidson said: “It was an emotional rollercoaster.

“We weathered the storm in the second half because I thought Rangers were very good.

“But Zander made saves, we got our blocks in and Ali Mccann made a superb tackle at one point.

“So to have put so much into the game then lose a goal late on, when we thought we’d stemmed it, you do think ‘that’s it’.

“But they don’t ever give up and when you see big Zander running up the pitch to set up a goal, it all went pretty crazy.

“You have to credit the lads for the way they dealt with the penalties. They took them very well.

“And Ali Mccann’s to win it was superb, right in the corner.”

Chris Kane.