St Johnstone manager Callum Davidson is keen to bring Friday night football to McDiarmid Park.
The Perth boss was blown away by the raucous away end at Easter Road last week – and the impact the 1,000 travelling supporters had on helping his team secure a stunning late comeback win.
With the Hibs fans also playing their part to make it a sell-out occasion to remember, Davidson hopes bringing a Saints game forward by a day won’t be a one-off.
“I thought Friday night football was a huge success,” said Davidson. “Especially in the capital.
“It was strange in the week leading up to it because it’s not really something we have been used to over the years.
“But I felt it worked well and you only need to look at how the supporters responded to see it’s popular.
“Our supporters turned out in numbers and it was a full house from the Hibs fans too.
“It was a great atmosphere. Our fans were brilliant and really positive when we were chasing the game late on.”
📽 𝙃𝙞𝙗𝙨 𝙃𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨
All the action from our Friday night win over @HibernianFC
Next up is Kilmarnock on Saturday 👊#SJFC | @SPFL | 📷 Chris Logan pic.twitter.com/qN2ZYyLgVK
— St. Johnstone FC (@StJohnstone) October 24, 2022
Davidson added: “Obviously us winning the game makes things feel a bit better but I think the whole occasion was really good.
“It’s something we can look at here now, try it out and see how it works.
“You wouldn’t want to do it all the time because people like their Saturday football, but once in a while mixing it up like that would be good.
“The odd Friday night gives it a change and lets families do other things on a Saturday that weekend.
“So it’s definitely worth exploring and I’m sure it’s something we will look at for the future.”
Character comeback
As Davidson referenced, the memories of their night in Leith wouldn’t have been the same had it not been for the result.
Of Saints’ four league victories so far this season, that was the first comeback one.
“I was pleased with the character we showed on Friday,” said Davidson. “The spirit of the team to get back into the game and win it was excellent.
“We have had the wrong end of the stick a few times with decisions this season so it was nice to get one, turn things around and win three points.
“Easter Road is a very tough place to go.
“We all admit we were below par in the first half but we improved a lot in the second half.
“We always seem to get a bit of late drama when we go there and this one was the same.
“The fans stayed behind us and we got there in the end.”
Stevie May hitting the griddy at Easter Road on Friday night 🕺#cinchPrem | @StJohnstone pic.twitter.com/17ZnSr7BEs
— SPFL (@spfl) October 24, 2022
Graham Carey should have a good chance of returning to Davidson’s squad for the visit of Kilmarnock on Saturday.
“Graham trained on Thursday but that was too soon for Friday night’s game,” he said.
“He will train all this week and if there is no reaction to it, he’ll hopefully be available for Saturday.”
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