Talks with Anderson overnew deal ‘fruitful’

Long-serving Saints defender on the verge of extending his McDiarmid Park stay

St Johnstone defender Steven Anderson is on the verge of signing a new deal with the Perth club.

The Scottish Cup final hero revealed that a series of meetings with Saints chairman Steve Brown have proved fruitful and there could soon be contract news.

“We’ve had a few chats and hopefully it can get done soon,” Anderson said. “We’re close.” The experienced defender should be back in the side against Aberdeen after missing Saints’ last two matches.

“I’m back in training again and available for selection,” he said.

“I’ve missed a fair few games this season so hopefully that’ll be me fit for the remainder of the season.”

Anderson insisted that none of the McDiarmid Park men will be lacking motivation in the last five games of the campaign.

He said: “Every place brings more money for the club and there’s bonus money for the players.

“More than anything else, it’s about pride. We want to win every game we play in. I know we can’t get into Europe but we want to finish as high up the league as we can. That means aiming for fourth.

“To finish top four three times out of the last four years would be great.

“I’ve said it every year but for a club this size staying in the league is always our priority. How far we can go after that is determined by us.

“I know we didn’t get in the top six on the back of a good run, but we did it all the same. If we had started poorly and then come with a run people would be saying ‘what a season’, but we did it the other way round. We’ve got there and we want to finish in style.”

Two of Saints’ best results of the season have come against Aberdeen – the early season rout of the then league leaders and a draw in their last encounter at Pittodrie.

“The 5-1 obviously stands out,” Anderson said.

“But the draw up there with a late penalty was a great result as well. We deserved it. I actually thought we didn’t play that badly in the game we lost to them here. They have all been even games in terms of possession. I’m sure this will be another one.”

He added: “To be honest, everybody thinks Celtic will win the league. But Aberdeen have been great and still have a lot to play for.

“Knowing Del (Derek McInnes), every year he wants perfection and to do better.

“He’ll be looking to push Celtic as far as they can but they’re not the favourites. Second place is probably realistic for them.”

Picture: PPA. Steven Anderson is hoping for an injuryfree end to the season as he looks towards extending his stay at McDiarmid Park. The former Dundee United player made his Saints debut against Raith Rovers in August 2004.