By Eric Nicolson

ST JOHNSTONE midfielder Paul Sheerin believes that the opportunity the Perth men now have to make a decisive move in the first-division promotion race may not present itself again.

Saints are 10 points adrift of Gretna but with two games in hand and the league leaders showing signs of faltering, if ever Owen Coyle’s men are to make a meaningful bid for the title it has to be now.

Sheerin, who will make his 75th consecutive appearance for Saints at Ross County this afternoon, admitted, “Every game we play from now counts for something.

“We’ve said it so many times before that we need to go on a run of winning games. But now, more than ever, if we can manage four wins in a row, what an opportunity we’ve got to go on and win the league.”

Saints had a free Saturday last weekend and Gretna’s defeat to Clyde was an unexpected fillip.

Sheerin recalled, “I knew Gretna had lost an early goal so I kept flicking through the channels to see how they were getting on.

“To be honest, I expected they would probably get a couple of late goals—which they’ve done in the past—but it was great for us that they didn’t.

“We’ve had so many opportunities to close gaps on teams over the last couple of seasons.

“We couldn’t manage to do it last season when we had the chance to get closer to St Mirren and now it’s massively important that we win tomorrow, win our first game in hand against Queen of the South in midweek and then hopefully take things on from there.”

Wednesday night’s quarter-final Scottish Cup win in Motherwell, and the subsequent semi-final draw which paired them with Celtic, was the talk of the dressing room yesterday, but, as of today, manager Owen Coyle won’t allow his players to be distracted by anything other than first division fixtures.

He pointed out, “I don’t mind speaking about Celtic today but that’s it put to bed now for six weeks. It’s a huge match and when it comes around we won’t just be going there to enjoy a day out, but it’s a long way off in the distance.”

Not that the players need to be told they can’t afford a cup hangover. They don’t have to cast their minds back too far to remember how it feels to be brought crashing back down to earth.

Sheerin said, “We’ve taken the plaudits before after two good cup performances against Hibs then Falkirk within the space of a few days then lost at Dundee, and we also had a poor run of form after beating Rangers.

“So we know what can happen if we let our standards drop. We know how important this match against Ross County is for our season.”

To clock up 75 starts in a row is quite an achievement for a player who wasn’t a first choice for Coyle when he arrived at the Perth club.

He commented, “I think Neil Janczyk started the first few games of last season. I got my chance a few games in and since then I’ve been fortunate enough to start all the games.

“I’ve been pretty fortunate with injuries over the years and I think I made nearly 100 starts with Inverness before picking up an ankle injury.”

Saints may have beaten County twice this season, but dropping two points on their last trip to Dingwall still rankles.

Coyle recollected, “We should have had that game put to bed by half-time. Our first-half performance was as good as we’ve had all season.

“We know this will be a very difficult game. They’re involved in a dog fight at the bottom of the table and need points just as much as we do.

“You always get a tough afternoon in Dingwall.

“Wednesday night is history now. Because of our cup runs we now have a fixture backlog and Gretna have points in the bag.

“We don’t have a big squad and everybody will need to dig deep. It’s a big ask, but we’ll give it everything we’ve got.”

Martin Hardie is suspended this afternoon but Derek McInnes, Steven Anderson and Derek Lilley are all available.

Meanwhile, Saints’ semi-final against Celtic will take place on Saturday, April 14. The match will be shown live on Sky and will have a 12.30pm kick-off.