Dundee turned the heat up on St Johnstone to produce a result against Aberdeen and the Perth side responded by killing off the Dark Blues’ hopes of making a great escape from Premiership relegation once and for all.
For Callum Davidson’s team, the fight to stay up continues.
Courier Sport picks out three talking points as the build-up to the play-offs begins.
Best of both worlds
The picture in terms of the Saints forward line has changed substantially over the last week.
Up until St Mirren, the partnership of Callum Hendry and Nadir Ciftci appeared to be, if not set in stone, certainly Davidson’s first choice.
It wasn’t the most natural combination stylistically but, by and large, it was helping accumulate precious points.
That Hendry remains the star turn was once again evidenced against Aberdeen.
His scoring record of one every two games in a team with a dreadful record in front of goal is outstanding.
The debate about who plays alongside him in the first play-off match won’t involve Ciftci but Stevie May and Glenn Middleton have both made themselves viable options.
If Davidson wants a high-energy, pressing forward to pin Arbroath or Inverness Caley Thistle back and force errors from their defenders, May’s his man.
If he wants to be bolder, backs his team to have the lion’s share of possession and sees lack of pace as an Achilles heel of Saints’ lower league opposition then Middleton appears the obvious pick.
With the first leg likely to present a different challenge to the second, my choice would be May away from home and Middleton at McDiarmid.
💪🎉 | Glenn Middleton with the opener on Saturday pic.twitter.com/23Ty6aoLs1
— St. Johnstone FC (@StJohnstone) May 9, 2022
Looking at the former’s performance at Livingston and the latter’s off the bench that day and then from the start in midweek, Davidson could get the best of both worlds.
Easter Road changes
For all that Davidson has talked about momentum going into the play-offs, that is a distant second compared to ensuring his key players, or as many of them as possible, are fit and rested.
I’d be keeping Zander Clark, Liam Gordon, Jamie McCart, Murray Davidson and Callum Hendry well away from the Sunday lunchtime action. Maybe Melker Hallberg and James Brown as well.
Theo Bair looks like he could be useful in the air. A very rare sight for a St Johnstone forward. Now that automatic relegation is not a concern, I’d like to see him start on Sunday.
— Samantha Cameron (@Samcam170514) May 11, 2022
Almost certainly, John Mahon and Theo Bair will make their first starts as St Johnstone players.
Neither have a realistic opportunity of forcing their way into next Friday night’s line-up but Bair in particular could make a big leap forward in terms of impact player from the bench.
Butterfield does his bit
He hasn’t been a transformative signing by any stretch of the imagination.
But if Saints stay up, Jacob Butterfield will be able to say he played his part.
There was the soft first touch and perfectly judged weight of through-ball for Hendry’s spectacular volley against Motherwell in mid-March.
A McDiarmid double (including this last minute winner!) earns @Callum_Hendry a spot in #TOTW! đź’Ş#cinchPrem | @StJohnstone pic.twitter.com/h8emvJ3x0h
— SPFL (@spfl) March 22, 2022
And on Wednesday night his positional sense and tempo-setting (and tempo-lifting) passes were a key aspect of the control Saints had of the match.
Speed across the ground has stopped him from being a real key man in Davidson’s second-half-of-the-season team but you can see why Butterfield was a Manchester United academy product and has made a very good living playing football at a high level for a decade and more.
And he’s given Davidson a timely reminder that he can be a composed midfield presence when the play-off pressure is on.
St Johnstone performance was a ‘big step forward’ going into the play-offs, says Callum Davidson
