Ali Crawford has ended a city of Dundee career jinx with St Johnstone.
And Saturday’s Premiership basement battle would be a perfect time to turn his 2021/22 goal double into a treble.
The former Hamilton Accies midfielder had played nine seasons in Scotland without scoring at either Tannadice or Dens Park.
That run came to an end with the second of Saints’ two strikes in the League Cup quarter-final victory against Dundee and then the Premiership victory over Dundee United in October.
Now that the dam has burst, the 30-year-old is hoping the City of Discovery goal drought turns into a goal rush.
Ali Crawford scored his first goal for Saints the last time we faced @DundeeFC ⚽️
Crunching Callum Booth tackle for the assist too ✅#SJFC
— St. Johnstone FC (@StJohnstone) September 28, 2021
“I must like the place,” said Crawford.
“It’s only this season though.
“Before the quarter final win the boys were taking the mickey out of me because I hadn’t scored at either Dens Park or Tannadice before.
“But I have put that right this season and hopefully Dens is one of my lucky places to go now.”
Post-split bottom half of the table pressure for Crawford at Hamilton was standard.
And so too was securing top flight safety.
“At Hamilton we were always near the bottom,” he said. “Any experience I was involved in there was good.
“We got promotion via the play-offs after beating Hibs and we beat Dundee United to stay up.
“We don’t want to be in this situation but I have been able to get out of it before.
“Obviously there are consequences but we go into the post-split games in reasonable form.
“If you take the Celtic game out of it we won our previous two and drew away to Hibs.
“I don’t think we go into the last few games lacking any confidence.”
Eight-point gap opportunity
Saints have the opportunity to turn a five-point advantage over their Tayside neighbours into an eight-point one, not to mention turn up the heat on the likes of St Mirren and Aberdeen.
“We want to stay up automatically so if we win this and the week after when we face St Mirren at home we can close the gap even further,” said Crawford.
“We need to take Saturday first though.
“I think it helps if we have something to chase.
“It gives us that slim chance of catching the teams above us.
“That is always good to have rather than looking behind us.
“Our full focus has to be on Dundee and taking maximum points back to Perth.
“It would not be mathematically over but it would be a big blow to their chances of catching us.”
Fast start
Crawford added: “We need to be ready for them looking for a fast start and 100% we are ready to go ourselves.
“Our previous two home games against Motherwell and Livingston were scrappy with lots of fighting to get the wins.
“We have shown we are more than capable of standing up for ourselves.
“The first half of the season just wasn’t good enough but since coming back from the break in January it has been dramatically better.
“That is going to stand us in good stead for the remaining five games.”
Crawford has taken his goals tally to double figures in the past.
It would have been a big ask to threaten that in this season’s struggling Saints side but the three he has scored in the league have all contributed to Perth victories.
Ali Crawford’s late goal gave St Johnstone a crucial win in GW24! #FFScotland pic.twitter.com/82JAANIOAh
— Fantasy Football Scotland 🏴 (@FantasyScotland) February 3, 2022
“I suppose I am a bit disappointed with the number of goals I’ve had,” he said.
“But any chances I have had recently I have stuck away.
“I’d like to score more and hopefully I can get a few more winners in the last five games to keep us up.
“As long as I am in the right position when the ball falls to me in the box I am more than capable of sticking it away.
“I have shown that but I don’t really care who scores on Saturday as long as we get the win. That’s the most important thing.”
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