Pars loan star and brother chase double promotion

St Johnstone are close to clinching new deals with “two or three” stars. Saints boss Callum Davidson has been in contract talks with a number of Perth players in recent weeks, with many heading towards the end of their current agreements.

A Wednesday/sunday league and cup double against Rangers is dominating the agenda at Mcdiarmid Park this week.

But Davidson is hopeful a breakthrough has been made in discussions that will bear fruit sooner rather than later.

“Two or three are pretty close to agreeing,” the Saints boss said.

“We are working on a few more and it’s still ongoing all the time.

“There are a lot of positive signs there and I’d like to think after this week we’ll have some good news.”

Steven Gerrard’s unbeaten Gers are in Perth on Premiership duty in midweek before the weekend’s last eight Scottish Cup clash at Ibrox.

Nobody at Mcdiarmid Park is in any doubt about the scale of the week’s task.

But Davidson is focused on ensuring his side don’t cough up goals unnecessarily – then provide a fresh attacking approach.

He said: “What do we need to do? We need Rangers to have an off day, we get a bit of luck to score in the 91st minute then the whistle blows!

“Seriously, though, I think that we have conceded goals at bad times against them this season in the three games so far.

“Rangers have got a really strong formation that can be tweaked.

“That makes them a very difficult team to play against,” he added.

“We’ve got to come up with something slightly different to get a result.”