St Johnstone haven’t given up on third place in the Premiership, playmaker Danny Swanson insisted.
But they might need a favour off his old club Dundee United to get there.
Saints remain four points adrift of Inverness Caledonian Thistle after Saturday’s draw between the two teams, while United are now level with the Perth men.
Swanson believes Brian Graham’s late equaliser has kept alive their hopes of chasing down the Highlanders.
And he doesn’t believe that fourth spot, and a Caley Thistle Scottish Cup final triumph, is the Perth club’s only remaining chance of qualifying for Europe.
Asked whether he was still targeting third, Swanson replied: “I am.
“The gaffer’s quite happy with fourth, but personally I still think we can finish third.
“United and Caley Thistle play each other next, and I’m not really sure what I want. Can they both lose!
“But, whatever happens, if we keep doing what we’re doing, we should have a great chance.”
Manager Tommy Wright knows that the Inverness v United clash tomorrow night will have a big bearing on whether two doors to Europe , or just the one, will be open to them by the time the Tangerines visit McDiarmid Park on Saturday.
“Dundee United winning doesn’t help us,” he admitted. “The big game is Tuesday night, and we’ll see how that falls.
“We’ve still got United to come here and nine points to play for. If we put in performances like that, we’ll be there or thereabouts.
“It’s out of our hands in terms of catching Inverness.”
As for which result he would like to see tomorrow?
“It’s a tricky one,” he said. “If we’d won today and United hadn’t, we’d have probably wanted a draw. Whatever’s going to happen, will happen.”
Caley Thistle’s goalscorer at the weekend, Aaron Doran, certainly doesn’t believe they’ve knocked Saints out of third place contention.
“It’s a huge game against on Tuesday,” he said. “This is now the biggest match.
“There’s a three-way fight for third and we want to win it. We’ve been there throughout the season and we don’t want to get pipped on the line.”