Having consigned a seven-match losing run to history, Callum Davidson hopes on Sunday to purge the memory of another lowlight of St Johnstone’s season.
The last time Celtic visited Perth, Saints were seconds away from recording a stirring comeback draw thanks to Alex Mitchell’s stoppage-time equaliser.
Two mad minutes later, that counted for nothing as Giorgos Giakoumakis struck for the champions with the game’s last kick.
Motivation may be high to avenge the events that floored Davidson’s squad that October lunchtime.
However, Davidson has preferred to jog memories of how well his men performed for 94 minutes rather than dwell on the debacle in the 95th.
The Saints boss said: “The players should remember how well they played against Celtic here.
“We worked very hard as a group, limited the space Celtic got and stayed in the game as long as we could.
“That showed, at McDiarmid Park we can do it and get opportunities against them. I think Stevie May hit the post before Alex equalised.
“If you put the work in, stick to your jobs and limit Celtic’s space, you can compete.
“With the way we eventually lost it, the lads were flat. But I want to use the positive side of it, so will remind them of the good things they did – and how we need to do them again.
“What losing such a late goal did show, though, was you can’t switch off against Celtic for a second. So the lesson is there .
“Defensively, I believe we’ve been a lot better in the last three or four games.
“We’ll need that to continue against Celtic, while hopefully creating at the top end too.”
A home victory would complete a pleasing Old Firm double for Davidson after November’s 2-1 defeat of Rangers.
However, Celtic have only lost once in the Premiership all season – 2-0 at St Mirren back in September.
The champions haven’t conceded a goal in six games in all competitions since the only other occasion they’ve dropped points, on January 2, at Ibrox.
Davidson said: “We beat Rangers at home so the belief we can win these games is there.
“St Mirren were able to get a result against Celtic by staying in their shape and focusing on their jobs.
“We’re not St Mirren but we have strengths of our own and we’ve shown recently we can flip between a four at the back and a five.
“That versatility is good, although Celtic play the same way no matter what.
“You can see how well coached they are and, when you add that to the quality of player, they really are a top side.”
Davidson will be without the ineligible Adam Montgomery for a third meeting of the season with Ange Postecoglou’s side.
More recently, on Christmas Eve, a 4-1 Parkhead defeat was trigger for Saints suffering six successive Premiership losses.
Winning at Motherwell stopped that rot and granted the Perth men a seven-point cushion on the relegation places.
Davidson added: “After Motherwell, we’re in a good place, have a strong squad and, hopefully, in the weeks ahead we can start building momentum again.”
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