St Johnstone secured a famous fifth league win in a row on Saturday, thanks in no small part to a European Union deadly duo.
Flying Dutchman Nigel Hasselbaink and feisty Frenchman Gregory Tade gave the Kilmarnock defence a torrid time, creating chance after chance to help Saints to victory, a win which means the current crop of Perth players have now equalled the record run set in season 1970-71 by Willie Ormond’s side.
The result hung in the balance as the game edged to its conclusion, with a solitary Murray Davidson first-half counter all Saints had to show for their domination.
It looked increasingly likely that despite all their best efforts Tade and Hasselbaink would draw a blank, especially when the latter made a hash of an opportunity which the assembled press immediately passed judgment on as the miss of the season so far.
The 21-year-old, though, finally gained his reward for his perseverance with the second goal on 90 minutes that seemed to have put the game to bed before Killie caused some shredded nerves when they scored in injury time to pull one back.
Tade expressed his delight for his team-mate whom he regards as a “wee brother” and he insisted Nigel can go on to be as big a success in the game as his famous uncle Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.
Tade said: ”I played with John Baird at Raith and Nigel is very similar. He is a very nippy player always looking for the ball and to create a bit of magic.
”I live next door to Nigel in Perth and he is like a wee brother to me. We do everything together, especially in training, and I could now find him on the pitch blindfolded.
”I need to look after him at times and tell him to try to remain calm but he is up there with the best I have played with in terms of talent.
”The thing is, he is only 21 and you can see he is going to be a great player and hopefully he does as well as his uncle.”
He added: ”It doesn’t matter if we miss or we score. Some people might say we are not clinical in front of goal but how many strikers can say they make five, seven or 10 chances a game? But we do.
”If we miss, so what? We know that five minutes later we will make another chance and we will be there ready to score.
”So, there was no need to say anything to Nigel when he missed. When you look at Celtic, with guys like Gary Hooper and Anthony Stokes, they can miss yet end up scoring 20 goals in a season.
”Nigel is a young lad, so every time he scores, it is a bit special. The team felt he had put a great shift in and hadn’t got his reward. People were maybe starting to think it wasn’t going to be his day but he never gave up and got the goal he deserved.”
That goal was the icing on the cake for Hasselbaink, who was a constant thorn in the side for Kilmarnock throughout the game.
However, everyone in a Saints jersey played their part on Saturday, including the outstanding Liam Craig who provided the delivery for the opening goal in the 29th minute.
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The former Falkirk player’s corner was powerfully headed towards goal by Steven Anderson, with Killie keeper Cammy Bell making an instinctive stop. Unluckily for him, the ball fell to Murray Davidson, who bundled home from close range.
Shortly after, the Ayrshire side were awarded a free-kick 20 yards out after a Hasselbaink foul on Rory McKeown. Gary Harkins looked favourite to take it but former Saints striker Cillian Sheridan stepped up instead and hit a curling shot, which left home keeper Alan Mannus helpless but smacked off the inside of the post instead of hitting the back of the net.
After the break Saints really turned the screw, fashioning a host of superb chances.
Davidson twice went close to doubling his tally for the day, Rowan Vine blasted over when he should have hit the target and then Hasselbaink passed up an opportunity that is certain to cause him sleepless nights.
His big pal Tade had broken free down the right before squaring the ball to the Dutchman for the simplest of tap-ins. Instead, the youngster inexplicably hit the ball wide.
Hasselbaink then missed out on another chance when, one-on-one with Bell, but he made no mistake in the 90th minute when he latched on to a Tade pass to round the Killie keeper and stroke the ball into the back of the net.
The Saints fans endured some late flutters when substitute Rory McKenzie hit an extra-time consolation goal for Kenny Shiels’ side but St Johnstone held on for another win that takes them up to the heady heights of second in the SPL table and Tade insists it is where they want to stay.
He said: ”I have said it before, I want the top three. We have beaten Celtic already and we play them again soon and we are determined to repeat the result.
”There is plenty more to come from St Johnstone. We are not tired yet and we have players to come back.
”The gaffer mentioned the record before the start of the game but, to be honest, it doesn’t matter to us about breaking records or not, we just want to win every game.
”Winning is a mental thing and when you start doing it, you just want to win again and again.
”We are second for a reason as we want it very bad and we work really hard.
”We just want to stay there and be counted as a big team.
”I want the opposition to be scared of my team when they come on the park. I want their defenders to be scared of Nigel and I.”
A delighted Saints boss Steve Lomas admitted he was fretting as his side missed a succession of opportunities but was delighted to secure another victory.
He said: ”We probably should have coasted home considering the amount of chances we had and you are alwaysfearful at 1-0 but we are delighted with another win.
”I thought it would have been veryunfair if we hadn’t taken all three points today.
”We have now matched a club record and it is great for the boys and we are delighted.”
Saints’ record-equalling run is a big change in fortunes from a faltering start to the season which saw them slide to the bottom of the table at one point, with the bookies tipping Lomas to be the first SPL manager to get the sack.
That was something the Northern Irishman could afford to have a laugh about now.
He said: ”I thought that (being sacked) would have been a bit harsh. The bookies have their job to do. Maybe our chairman had a good punt on it, I don’t know. He is always looking to bring extra money in.”