Two more wins will be needed if St Johnstone are to progress to the last 16 of the Viaplay Cup.
But after Saints’ 4-0 victory over League One side, Alloa Athletic on Saturday that’s now looking like a realistic possibility with back-to-back home games to come this week.
Courier Sports picks out three talking points from Saturday’s one-sided contest in Clackmannanshire.
A more balanced midfield
Ryan McGowan and Cammy Ballantyne are both versatile footballers.
The latter was deployed in various midfield positions in his multiple loan spells with Montrose and the former has performed impressively in the top flight for Saints across the backline and as a holding central midfielder.
At the weekend we probably saw both in the roles that will best suit them in a Steven MacLean team.
I always feel more comfortable watching Saints when McGowan is anchoring the midfield and that was certainly the case at the Indodrill Stadium.
The Australian international breaks up play, fills spaces, turns defence into attack quickly and provides a ‘streetwise’ quality only years of experience can give you.
Most of those characteristics were encapsulated by the manner in which McGowan instinctively snuffed out of an Alloa counter-attack when a Drey Wright-Max Kucheriavyi one-two was turned over on the edge of the Saints box.
Ballantyne, meanwhile, is better further forward.
Saints should still be in the market for a midfielder who can make penetrating runs beyond defenders but that’s exactly what the 23-year-old did tellingly for the opening goal.
And the lob finish was sublime.
Told ye. https://t.co/F4Ou4OKrJg pic.twitter.com/lGxUojrrY3
— St Johnstone Fans (@StJohnstoneFans) July 23, 2023
By setting-up two other goals, Ballantyne, arguably more than any other Perth player, answered MacLean’s call for better quality in attacking areas.
Rugby Park last season will define his St Johnstone career but, albeit against far lower quality opposition, this was his strongest all-round display.
Mannus v Clark all over again
Dimitar Mitov didn’t put a foot wrong on debut.
One save stood out – in the 18th minute after Bradley Rodden raced past Andy Considine and got his shot in the box away.
Saints were under a bit of pressure at the time and their decisive second goal was scored by McGowan less than two minutes later.
There were two other interventions that showcased the Bulgarian’s skillset.
The first was when he came a long way to claim a diagonal free-kick into his box midway through the first half and quickly put his team on the offensive.
The second was just after the break when the former Cambridge United man put himself in the perfect spot to cut-out a dangerous low ball across his six-yard box.
Double debut ✅
Clean sheet for Dimi 🧤
Assist for Luke 🔍How impressed were you with these two today? 🤩#SJFC pic.twitter.com/Wspl94tp2g
— St. Johnstone FC (@StJohnstone) July 22, 2023
Mitov is loud, authoritative and good with both feet. Or, at least, so it would appear thus far.
Ross Sinclair has also been impressive since Remi Matthews returned to London.
MacLean has the ‘two number ones’ selection dilemma he was seeking.
The quiet success story of pre-season
Tony Gallacher hasn’t had it easy at St Johnstone.
A mistake on debut contributed to that Kelty Hearts goal.
Then, after finding some form in Callum Davidson’s reshaped 2021/22 team, his season was ended with a leg break at the start of spring.
By the time he returned, Gallacher found Adam Montgomery in front of him.
There was certainly no shame in the ex-Liverpool man being unable to dislodge one of Saints’ best players from a wing-back role perfectly suited to the Celtic youngster.
But seeing right-footed James Brown deputise on occasions must have hurt.
When Saints fans were putting together their summer ‘positions that need strengthened’ list, left-back would have featured on plenty of them.
Gallacher is changing minds.
He has always looked defensively sound and Remi Matthews’ close-season comments on his training ground attitude and standards backed up the school of thought that the 24-year-old deserved first shot at replacing Montgomery.
The big question mark was whether he could impact the game in the opposition half.
Saturday was a big step forward in that regard.
If ever there was a performance that highlighted a player visibly growing in confidence it was this one.
From demanding the ball off Andy Considine on the over-lap to feeding short and sharp balls into the strikers’ feet around the box, in the second half at Alloa, Gallacher was the auxiliary forward MacLean wants when his team is in possession in the opposition half.
A fit Callum Booth will give him competition for a start but Gallacher is looking more and more like a St Johnstone first team regular in the making.
