The rise in St Johnstone’s form and fortunes is inarguable.
But Stevie May believes the best is yet to come.
Saints have put an early exit from the League Cup and a three-game Premiership losing streak behind them by picking up seven points from nine in recent weeks.
In doing so, they are now far closer to the top six than the foot of the table, with second bottom Kilmarnock next up on Wednesday night.
May, who was the Perth side’s man of the match in the 2-1 victory over Dundee United on Saturday, made no attempt to downplay the McDiarmid Park momentum shift.
However, there is still plenty of room for improvement, according to the three-time cup winner.
“It was a good performance,” said May. “In the second half I think we probably didn’t play as well as we wanted to though – we maybe dropped back a little more.
“We didn’t get it forward enough. Sometimes a game goes like that when you’ve got a two-goal lead.
“They had a couple of chances but we managed to get over the line, which in the last year is something we hadn’t done enough of.
“So it was a good day all round.
“I’m not going to lie, we were a bit shaky over those closing final 10 minutes but it keeps the run going.
“It’s the sort of run we’ve not been able to put together these past 12 or 16 months. So now we’ve got to build on this with the games we’ve got coming up.
“Being honest, I don’t think we’ve yet played as well as we can, in terms of doing it for a full game.
“We’ve got a lot of quality in the team and we’ve also got guys to come back from injuries.
“But this is a very positive time for us.”
‘Could play until he’s 50’
At 29, May is one of the senior members of this St Johnstone squad.
But he isn’t as close to the ‘veteran’ stage as Ryan McGowan and Andy Considine, whose excellence underpinned this Tannadice triumph.
“Andy, the way he plays, he could play until he’s 50,” said May, who was a team-mate of the former Scotland international at Aberdeen.
“He is so strong and doesn’t rely on great pace – though he’s not slow either.
“I think it is all about experience with him. When you are being pinned back it is about knowing where you need to be, and knowing that you don’t always have to be running around at 100 miles per hour.
“Ryan has also been brilliant since he came in.
“He can play all over the park, especially in the central positions, and it’s a credit to him that he’s ready to play wherever he is asked.
“Dundee United were getting frustrated with us – their fans were as well. We weren’t necessarily getting after them but we gave them no room to play through us.”
Build on this platform
May has been written off by many – as have Saints as a team.
Underdog mentality has been fundamental to the club’s success over a decade and more and will continue to be so.
“This season it was all about starting fresh and trying to put together wins and trying to get away from the bottom early so that we could relax a bit more and play the football that we know we can,” said May.
“We’ve been slow starters and sometimes not getting going until Christmas – but now we’ve got to build on this start.
“There is a positivity about the place at the moment – the fans are feeling it as well – so we want to keep that gap between us and the bottom of the table.”
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