St Johnstone

Tyrone Smith
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

Image source, SNS

St Johnstone striker Nicky Clark believes the experience of last season's Premiership relegation fight can hold them in good stead as they desperately battle for survival again.

The Perth side, who dodged the play-off spot last term, are five points adrift at the bottom with five games left.

Speaking before Saturday's trip to Motherwell, Clark said: "There are still a few boys here that experienced last year when we were in it right down until the last day at Motherwell funnily enough and we can use that for ourselves, we can use that to help the boys that maybe haven't been in this situation before to get through this.

"They know what it is like themselves, we don't need to tell them how important it is, not just the football side of things, it is the people that nobody really sees or hears about, the people that work their backsides off behind the scenes up the stairs and keep the club running.

"So it affects everything if you don't stay in this league. We know what it is going to take and we are going to give absolutely everything to get us out of the situation."

The Premiership table may not make pretty reading for St Johnstone but Clark insists they have shown enough this season to suggest they can get out of trouble.

He said: "At one point we thought we were dead and buried, I think we were maybe eight, nine even 10 points adrift and we showed what we were all about, we got back into it slightly.

"I know we are still five behind but we have shown we can put results together, we can perform to earn those results and we are more than capable of doing that.

"We have more than enough experience and quality in that dressing room to get out of it."

Image source, BBC Sport

St Johnstone have given a trial to 19-year-old goalkeeper Nathaniel Nwosu, who has been capped by Nigeria. (Courier - subscription required), external

Read the rest of Wednesday's Scottish gossip column...

Sam Miller
Fan writer

A defeat in a semi-final is always disappointing but we have five cup finals to feast on in the coming weeks.

I look around the St Johnstone squad and wonder who is driving standards and being vocal in the dressing room.

Previous teams had Dave Mackay, Liam Craig and Murray Davidson making sure everyone was doing their utmost to win a football match. I just can't see the same desire or fire in the belly, which may be the current side's downfall.

As always, I love nothing more than being proved wrong and if we can gather some momentum, starting away to Motherwell on Saturday, then we can look forward to an absolute rollercoaster last month of the campaign.

There may not be trophies up for grabs any more but celebrating survival would be up there with some of the great achievements this wonderful club has produced over the past 20 years.

Sam Miller can be found at Dogger Saints, external

St Johnstone striker Uche Ikpeazu, the 30-year-old who made a 15-minute cameo appearance in Sunday's Scottish Cup semi-final defeat by Celtic, has revealed that it was not until after a fifth operation to his knee that he started to see light at the end of a near season-long absence. (The Courier), external

Read Tuesday's Scottish Gossip in full.

Nick McPheat
BBC Sport Scotland

How many times have you heard a relegation-threatened manager talk about the need to hit the coveted 40-point mark?

Well, the truth is, no Scottish Premiership team has ever required that total to avoid the bottom two since the play-offs were brought back more than a decade ago.

However, that is projected to change this season.

Based on current points-per-game averages, 11th-placed Dundee are set to end on a total of 39, meaning 40 could be the magic number to guarantee safety.

If that is the case, that would mark the highest tally required to ensure survival in Scotland's top tier since 38-game seasons were reintroduced in the 2000-01 campaign.

That would also mean Hearts are effectively safe, given they are already on 40 points and four teams would need to make up ground on them, while eighth-placed Motherwell would need just a single point from five post-split games.

With Kilmarnock in ninth and Ross County in tenth both currently on 35, which is just one more than Dundee's 34, the fight to avoid 11th is clearly likelier to be between those three.

But that is not set in stone. The nature of the split means each team in the bottom half will face the other before the end of the campaign, so there is scope for points-per-game averages to fluctuate.

And what does all of this mean for St Johnstone? Well, the 33 points Simo Valakari's side are projected to finish on would be the highest for a bottom-placed team in the Premiership since 2017.

That would be no consolation for the Perth club if they go down, but that is certainly not guaranteed to happen just yet.

However, they have a real fight on their hands to make up a five-point gap while improving their inferior goal difference.

We asked for your views on St Johnstone's heavy five-goal defeat against Celtic in the Scottish Cup semi-finals at Hampden.

Here's what some of you said:

Les: This was always a free hit for us and the first 30 minutes was okay. But we imploded in 12 minutes before half time. The goals conceded were all avoidable. Yet again individual errors cost us. It's been the same all season. We at least stuck at it second half, but the five games remaining are the priority now. We absolutely have to win the three home games and being honest I think that is beyond this group. The Championship beckons.

Ron: Whatever happens we must stick with this manager for next season.

Ian: After the win at home against them a scudding was expected and a scudding was duly delivered. The frustration for me is the cheap and meek manner in which the goals were conceded. That said they put six past Aberdeen in the League Cup semis and I wouldn't swap the three league points we got for a cup final. We've got five cup finals to go.

Dave: How many times do we create our own issues playing silly, nothing balls forward from the back into the middle of the park? Is it the players who have to take responsibility or Simo Valakari? I really like Simo, but something has to change with that aspect as it's happening all too often and we've lost several goals from these mistakes since he's arrived. It was always going to be hard, but that made it impossible and we lost our belief as soon as that first goal went in.

St Johnstone fans, what did you make of your side's performance as their Scottish Cup journey ended at Hampden against holders Celtic? Were there any performances that stood out to you?

Have your say on the game.

Amy Canavan
BBC Sport Scotland

Image source, SNS

Since that potentially priceless league win at McDiarmid Park earlier this month, many feared for St Johnstone in this semi-final. Simo Valakari's side had poked the bear.

Though they expected Celtic to be fuelled by revenge, they couldn't have prepared for the utter shellacking they suffered.

To put it simply, St Johnstone were outclassed and punished for any mistake they made on the few occasions they were in possession.

There will be moments in which Valakari and his players will have wanted to do better – intercepting the second and building out from the back better for the fourth – but all told, they were overwhelmed.

Though shipping five is far from ideal, there were genuine fears at half time that the scoreline could have read much worse for a side who have five games left to try and save their Premiership status.

Image source, SNS

St Johnstone manager Simo Valakari tells BBC Scotland: "That's what Celtic can do to any team in Scotland, they are relentless. No hard feelings, no excuses, we didn't do enough good things to get anything out of it.

"I'm proud of my players, of course it wasn't what we wanted but that was our 2025 cup journey.

"We can't give silly goals away, because we don't have the time or points to do it. That's what we are working on.

"In the second half we showed character to express better than what we did for the last 15 minutes of the first half.

"There is no opponent who will help us. We own our own performance - there is no fear, we will go with full attack and see where we are."

Image source, SNS

Graham Carey has warned St Johnstone to be ready for a fast start from a Celtic side seeking revenge in the Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden on Sunday.

Despite Saints propping up the Premiership, they ended a nine-year wait to beat Celtic with a 1-0 home victory two weeks ago thanks to Daniels Balodis' early header.

"I'm probably a bit more relaxed, knowing that it's a cup weekend and kind of taking my mind off the league a little bit," said midfielder Carey.

"It's a big occasion. We've got a lot of fans coming to the game and a lot of players have family coming up for it because it's such a big game.

"We can go there with a relaxed attitude, but knowing it's going to be a difficult game. We're all excited.

"I expect them to make it harder for us. I think the way we played that game, we kind of caught them off guard the way we set up.

"They'll probably come out of the traps quickly. We'll need to be a lot better than we were that day.

"They'll try to use the pitch to their advantage, move it a lot quicker and make it a lot more difficult for us. We have a gameplan and we'll stick to it."

Image source, Getty Images

Callum Davidson hopes St Johnstone can take inspiration from Rory McIlroy's win at The Masters when they face Celtic in this weekend's Scottish Cup semi-final.

Davidson, who famously won both domestic cups with the Saints in 2020-21, knows his former side are in for a daunting task and hopes they didn't "poke the fire" too much in beating Brendan Rodgers' side 1-0 recently.

"I think it's going to be a tough game for them," he said. "I think they kind of poked the fire a little bit there with the performance against them, a few wee tactics they had in the game.

"I hear they've got a few wee niggly injuries, they've got a few guys who might be missing. So I think it's going to be really tough.

"They've got to take confidence from last week in what they can do. But I think all things have to align for them a little bit to get through."

After Rory McIlroy's heroics at Augusta on Sunday evening, Davidson, who is an avid golf fan, would like to see similar grit and heart from the Saints side in their own attempt to make history.

"But they'll be going into it thinking, you know, it's one game, we have a chance. We have an opportunity. It's all about creating history. We talk about Rory McIlroy a little bit and creating history," he added.

"You have to be brave enough to go and try and get the job done. And I think that'll be the message; that certainly was the message last time we played them.

"Go and have the courage and go and be brave to try and achieve something.

"And if you don't, at least you give it a go, and you can bounce back again and then go and try again."

As Johnstone prepare to face Celtic at Hampden on Sunday, relive the Perth club's 2014 Scottish Cup semi-final win over Aberdeen as a Stevie May double downed Aberdeen. (Available to UK users only)

Will the lack of pressure on St Johnstone help them stun Celtic again this weekend?

Simo Valakari's side go into the Scottish Cup semi-final as huge underdogs as the Premiership bottom club look to follow up their shock 1-0 league win with another slaying of Brendan Rodgers' runaway leaders.

"It's a tough one as Celtic, since that shock defeat, have tightened the screw a bit. They've not exactly had a bad patch, have they?" said Saints fan and former Scotland goalkeeper Gemma Fay.

Speaking on the BBC's Scottish Football Podcast, Fay added: "But it's St Johnstone in the cup. We've got to remember back to season 2021, we're not supposed to do anything in it, and when you're not supposed to do something in it and you're a complete underdog, we like that.

"We've got echoes of the 2021 season, the famous double, and that will live long in the memories.

"You've got nothing to lose in this situation whatsoever. I think Simo Valakari will use this as a welcome distraction and say, go and enjoy it. You know you can beat them, they have that in their back pocket, they've done it recently.

"You know you've got a way to beat this team, and that level of confidence to players to go, we've had a really hard season, it's not over yet, just take a departure from the league, go and enjoy this and anything can happen."

Brian McLauchlin
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

Image source, SNS

Simo Valakari has been speaking to the media before St Johnstone face holders Celtic in the Scottish Cup semi-finals this weekend.

Here are the key points from the Perth boss:

• Zach Mitchell and Drey Wright are both out but striker Uche Ikpeazu is available for his debut and first appearance of the season.

• Everyone at the club knows this is a "special week" and Valakari says it is a day "where miracles and heroes can be born".

• Saints' recent league win over Celtic provides "confidence that it's possible" but the Finn insists his side will need an even better performance at Hampden.

• He adds: "I've said it all the way and nothing has changed. We have good players and I wish, bottom of my heart, that we can go in this game and show how good we are."

• Valakari says his side "deserve" to be at this stage as they have come through some tough games and are yet to concede a goal. He wants his team to play their normal game and not the occasion.

• Valakari has watched Saints cup triumphs in recent years and has trophy-winning experience of his own, twice lifting the Finnish Cup with KuPS in his homeland and last year leading Riga to Latvian Super Cup success.

• He adds: "I remember this feeling when you lift that trophy for maybe 24 hours, you have no worries in the world. You have just this euphoria... that's why we do this business."

Fourth round: St Johnstone 1-0 Motherwell (18 Jan)

Makenzie Kirk's early goal earned St Johnstone their first win over Motherwell in three years - and a place in the Scottish Cup last 16.

At the time, Simo Valakari's side had lost seven of their previous nine matches before turning things around in the cup.

Fifth round: St Johnstone 1-0 Hamilton (8 Feb)

It took a late goal from Adama Sidibeh to overcome Championship outfit Hamilton.

Saints could have been ahead in the first half, but Accies goalkeeper Dean Lyness kept his side in the game.

However, Sidibeh reacted quickly to Graham Carey's strike from distance with four minutes to play to guide a header beyond Lyness and send the Perth men into the last eight.

Quarter-finals: Livingston 0-1 St Johnstone (10 March)

Another narrow win over second-tier opposition. Graham Carey's spectacular 30-yard strike secured a hard-fought victory.

Saints had been dominated by their Championship hosts, who spurned a number of first-half chances.

But Carey's brilliant goal in the 73rd minute proved the difference and set up a semi-final against holders Celtic.

• Celtic beat Rangers 1-0 in last season's Scottish Cup final to lift the trophy for the second season in a row and 42nd time overall.

• This is St Johnstone's first semi-final since lifting the trophy for a second time in 2021, when they defeated St Mirren 2-1 to reach the final.

• Celtic last lost in the semi-finals in 2022, when they were beaten by Rangers.

• Celtic have won seven of their eight Scottish Cup meetings with St Johnstone.

• St Johnstone's only Scottish Cup victory over Celtic was a 2-1 victory in February 1936, Jimmy Beattie scoring either side of a Willie Buchan equaliser in the second-round tie at Celtic Park.

• Ryan Christie scored the only goal - for Celtic - in the latest Scottish Cup meeting between the sides, in a March 2020 quarter-final at McDiarmid Park.

• Celtic won the only previous Scottish Cup semi-final between the sides, 2-1 in April 2007, when Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink scored either side of a Martin Hardie equaliser.

• Celtic won their latest semi-final meeting with Saints, in the League Cup in November 2021, with James Forrest scoring the only goal at Hampden.

• St Johnstone have only won one of their past four outings, but that came two weeks ago at home to Celtic, Daniels Balodis scoring the only goal.

• Scottish Premiership leaders and reigning champions Celtic have won two and lost two of their latest four outings, the other defeat coming at home to Rangers.

Image source, SNS

Are St Johnstone losing the "ethos" that led them to achieving a domestic cup double and maintaining their top-flight status?

Former McDiarmid Park boss Callum Davidson thinks that could be part of the reason why they are struggling at the bottom of the Scottish Premiership.

However, Davidson can empathise with why the club are unable to sustain the model he feels "has been built on stability".

"Again, it's turnover of players," he said. "I think when we won the cups, it was then very difficult to keep the squad together because they all left, we couldn't afford to keep them.

"[It became a] bit of a turnover of too many. I think St Johnstone's success over the years has been built on stability and that kind of ethos of bringing one or two players in every year and trying to keep that nucleus of the squad together."

Currently five points adrift at the foot of the table, Saints face Celtic in the Scottish Cup semi-finals on Sunday - something Davidson hopes is a high point, but he worries it could hinder their survival hopes.

"Is the semi-final a help or a hindrance to them in their fight for survival? It probably is a bit of a hindrance," he adds.

"Because it's another huge game physically and mentally for the players. So it's a tough one.

"Hopefully the stability is there that if they do go down, they will be in a position where they can go back up again.

"But they won't be thinking about it like that. They'll be thinking, 'come on, let's have a go and let's see what we can do'."

Football fans heading to this weekend's Scottish Cup semi-finals at Hampden Park have been handed a timely travel boost, with ScotRail confirming additional trains and extra seats to help supporters get to and from the national stadium. (The Herald), external

Read Wednesday's Scottish Gossip in full.