As St Johnstone’s Premiership revival gathers momentum, there is no debate about which player has taken on the most important role in opening up a six-point gap over Dundee and raising hopes that 10th place – and escape from a nerve-shredding play-off – may yet be attainable.
Callum Hendry and his seven goals put the recalled striker out on his own.
Plenty of others have helped make the post-January break Saints side unrecognisable from the pre-January break one, though.
And if you were conducting a fans’ poll on who is next behind Hendry on the essential to the Perth cause list as things stand, Murray Davidson would probably top it.
On his 400th appearance in all competitions for Saints, the midfielder’s display in the 1-0 victory against his old club Livingston at the weekend was the perfect way to mark a special landmark.
It was the type of contest that, by his own admission, suited Davidson down to the ground and he was the dominant figure in it.
His place in the SPFL’s team of the week was thoroughly deserved.
𝙏𝙀𝘼𝙈 𝙊𝙁 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙒𝙀𝙀𝙆 𝙎𝙋𝙊𝙏👏
Just how good was this man on Saturday?😎#SPFL #Muzz https://t.co/5tpLwZ91HB pic.twitter.com/ICrimeinMd
— St. Johnstone FC (@StJohnstone) April 5, 2022
Courier Sport took a deeper look at Davidson’s Opta statistics from the match and explored other broader themes that back-up the perception the veteran is rolling back the years.
Magnificent 7
Davidson’s statistics against Livingston – and where they sit in a team context – tell their own story.
He was top in no fewer than SEVEN categories for Saints at the weekend.
Most touches – 63
Most passes – 35
Most accurate passes – 20
Most duels – 23
Most duels won – 14
Most tackles – 5
Most fouls won – 4
In short, the numbers add up to the most impactful performance of the season from the former Scotland international.
An extra centre-half
Liam Gordon, Jamie McCart and Dan Cleary all defended their six-yard box magnificently at the weekend.
Apart from an injury-time Ayo Obileye header that went comfortably wide of Zander Clark’s left-hand post, the aerial route never looked like being an avenue for Livingston to get back on level terms.
Having three centre-halves plus a midfielder as effective in the air as Davidson is one of the key strengths of Saints in this set-up.
There wasn’t another player in his position across the six Premiership fixtures who came close to his total of eight penalty box interventions on Saturday.
Lewis Ferguson with four was the next closest.
System and position suit him
Callum Davidson tweaking his formation from a 3-4-2-1 to a 3-1-4-2 has brought out the best in Davidson.
More specifically, putting him at the base of the three-man central midfield.
When the Saints boss made the system alteration after the mid-season break, Jacob Butterfield started off as the deepest-lying midfielder in the first four league games – against Hearts, Dundee, Livingston and Dundee United.
Davidson was first deployed there against St Mirren but it wasn’t until the next Premiership fixture, the 2-1 win over Hearts, that the now first-choice midfield three – Davidson, Melker Hallberg and Ali Crawford – was seen.
🎥 | Murray Davidson spoke to #SaintsTV after our 1-0 win over @LiviFCOfficial yesterday
Fantastic performance from our number 8 👊#SJFC pic.twitter.com/hfJJv2vDok
— St. Johnstone FC (@StJohnstone) April 3, 2022
Getting the 34-year-old to prioritise duties in the defensive and middle thirds of the pitch has reaped rewards.
He isn’t the box-to-box marauder of old and Hallberg and Crawford both have consistently higher pass completion percentages in the final third (Davidson’s 17% on Saturday illustrates the point).
This is a well-balanced combination with well-defined roles.
Record-breaker?
It wasn’t long ago that Liam Craig went past Steven Anderson at the top of the St Johnstone all-time appearance list.
Craig suggested Davidson would have a good chance of setting an even higher benchmark.
The warrior!! What a legend 💙 https://t.co/F0BNRZlSb9
— Shaun Rooney (@roons96) April 2, 2022
Craig is on 451, Anderson 441 and Davidson 400.
Hopefully from a Saints point of view, there won’t be a two-leg play-off to come and the highest the latter can go this season is 406.
If Davidson and his team maintain their current form, he’ll be chasing down the other two McDiarmid Park legends in a 14th Premiership campaign.
