By Graeme Dey

ST JOHNSTONE boss Owen Coyle and midfielder Martin Hardie acknowledged yesterday that the league title is all but Gretna’s.

However, the pair vowed to at very least deny the Raydale Park outfit a championship celebration when the sides clash in the Borders this weekend.

Gretna will go 10 points clear at the top if they beat Airdrie tomorrow, leaving them needing only to draw Saturday’s clash to settle the issue.

But while Saints cannot influence events ahead of the weekend they are determined to ensure the champagne remains on ice come supper time on Saturday.

“We were always chasing our tails, needing to win every game,” said Coyle.

“But now Gretna have a terrific advantage and if they win on Wednesday the lead would be unassailable.

“Regardless of whether that happens, however, we have to go to Gretna on Saturday and win.”

Hardie acknowledged, “It’s not done yet, but Gretna can only throw it away.

“It would take a spectacular collapse for them to lose the league now.

“And fair play to them, they’ve been up there to be shot at for months and maintained that pretty much as St Mirren did last year.

“I’d still like to think Airdrie can do us a turn.

“I know some of the boys there feel the way they play is suited to doing well against Gretna, so we’ll see.

“But whatever happens we’ll go to Gretna on Saturday and look to beat them.

“We don’t want to be the team they clinch the league against, not after the two of us have been chasing that prize all season. We don’t want to be there when they are partying.”

Saints were yesterday pondering whether to appeal Kevin Cuthbert’s red card against Livingston.

“I knew when I watched the incident at the time that it was never a sending off,” said Coyle.

“And the video just enhances that opinion.

“Kevin’s hands were at his side and the boy has struck him with the ball.

“We are thinking about an appeal, but the question is how likely is it the authorities will stick by the decision of the referee that he denied a goal- scoring opportunity?”

For as much as Saints feel Eddie Smith’s dismissal of Cuthbert played a major part in their slipping to defeat, Coyle was honest enough to admit his side had let themselves down too.

“It was a big, big decision in the game—a hammer blow,” he said.

“But we contributed to the result ourselves by conceding two poor goals and not taking our chances.

“The first goal was terrible, the second poor.”

Meanwhile, Perth pair Steven Milne and Kevin Rutkiewicz are headed for London this week to consult a specialist over their knee and ankle problems.

“It’s a precautionary thing with both of them,” he revealed.

“Steven has developed a problem at the top of his thigh and we want to know whether that’s happened through his being over protective of the knee.

“We just want to clarify that he hasn’t done anything which would represent a setback.

“Kevin is in a similar situation. He has come on great and was very close to playing a bounce game, but then he got a bit of discomfort in the ankle.

“We want to see whether that was just something to be expected or not.”