The Ross County goalkeeper broke a Premiership record for the number of saves made, when he came up against an in-form Rangers team in midweek.
That will serve as a warning to Craig Levein’s side ahead of their clash with Philippe Clement’s men on Sunday.
But the Perth boss takes confidence from the two performances Saints have produced against the Glasgow giants since he took over at McDiarmid Park, as he seeks to make sure Dimitar Mitov doesn’t get close to George Wickens’ 19 Wednesday night saves.
“We played well at Ibrox and were still in the game late on despite playing with 10 men for a long period of time,” said Levein.
“Here, we were 1-0 up against Celtic and even at 2-1 down we had a brilliant chance to equalise.
“But we know that if you’re not at it, you’ve no chance.
“Look at Ross County the other day – Rangers could have scored double figures goals with the chances they had.
“It could happen to anybody.
“We want to be as good as we have been defensively and show some calmness in our attacking passages of play.”
Dens frustration
Saints will certainly need to improve on their second half display at Dens Park, when a one-goal lead became a one-goal defeat.
“Dundee have had a really good season and trying to go above them was something we were hoping to do so it was a frustration that we didn’t manage to do that,” said Levein.
“Things can change quickly again but that would have been really good for our confidence, especially with such a good support behind us at the game.
“Our second half performance just wasn’t good enough.
“But if we can keep the defensive stuff going and get a couple of things right in an attacking sense we should be in a good place by the end of the season.”
VAR mistake confirmation
Levein, who is “hopeful” of having Dan Phillips back in his squad, will be keeping his fingers crossed that there are no more VAR interventions that go against Saints.
An independent panel confirmed that disallowing Graham Carey’s goal against Aberdeen last month was a mistake – and the controversial penalty award for Dundee is still a raw wound.
“We’ve had four or five that have been very questionable,” said Levein. “Graham’s disallowed goal was certainly one of them.
“When you look back at it you just think: ‘Why did they need to get involved?’
“For me it should be all about clear and obvious errors, not re-refereeing the game.
“It’s not VAR. It’s interference with something that isn’t broken.
“It’s not the job of VAR to pore over everything.
Captain Liam Gordon has been at the centre of a few of Saints’ VAR-related incidents this season but has his manager’s complete faith.
“He’s a centre-back whose skills are defensive skills, in particular, which are a dying art,” said Levein.
“He’s really good in the air, good in the tackle and he uses his body well to protect himself and the area he’s in.
“Defending is a skill but there’s a lot of jeopardy now.”
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