'Dream was already gone' - Valakari on St Johnstone's half-time focus shift

This Hampden day out was designed to bring welcome relief for St Johnstone from the struggle of their Scottish Premiership survival slog.

Albeit, that opportunity was against Celtic, but their recent league win over Brendan Rodgers' side would have brought some hope.

For 30-odd minutes of a sun-kissed semi-final at the national stadium, those adorned in blue may well have momentarily forgotten all about basement battles and dared to dream as they held Celtic at arms length.

Just 12 minutes after Callum McGregor's opener, the bubble had truly burst.

The relegation fight was back, firmly at the forefront, with the treble-chasing holders four ahead by half-time and the Perth side reeling from a flurry of counters.

At the break, Valakari had to be realistic and prioritise.

"The dream was already gone to reach the final," the Finn told BBC Scotland. "So, yes, the thinking process already went the next games.

"At the same time, we still had 45 minutes. We could not go out there and collapse because it could have done even more damage to us."

'We didn't do enough good football things'

No-one expected the contest to be over at that point given the way the opening 33 minutes had played out.

Yes, Celtic dominated but didn't pierce St Johnstone's defence too often with goalkeeper Andy Fisher rarely troubled.

It went so badly wrong from there and, come the break, any scoreline seemed within Celtic's reach.

The fact the Perth side held out to concede just once more will likely help in the coming games.

"That's what Celtic can do against any team here in Scotland, even in Europe," Valakari continued.

"No hard feelings, no excuses. We didn't do enough good football things to get anything out of it.

"We came here to compete to the final. It didn't happen this year. We are sad now, but that was our 2025 cup journey."

A five-game journey of cup finals beckons with massive implications for the club, starting with a trip to face Motherwell in their first post-split fixture on Saturday.

For all Celtic's attacking threat here, errors played a part in St Johnstone's downfall.

Valakari is clear on the lessons that need to be quickly learned ahead of the run-in.

"That's the reason we are where we are in the table," he said. "We can do very, very good things, but we can't do it enough whole 90 minutes.

"It needs to change now because the margin of error, we don't have anymore. We can't give silly goals away because we don't have time or points to do it.

"There is no opponent who will help us to get out of it. It's only us. We need to do it. We own our own performance. We own our situation and we own if we get out of it.

"So, there's no fear. It's a full attack."

St Johnstone's destiny still, maybe just, remains in their hands.

With five points between them and Dundee, and a Perth meeting between the two the last game of this season.

Valakari will hope his side have a fighting chance at the end of their five-game run, rather than their hopes being over halfway through as was the case at Hampden.

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