St Johnstone goalie Peter Enckelman is hoping the form book goes out the window when his side travel to face Hearts in the fourth round of the Scottish Cup on Sunday.
The Tynecastle outfit have won 10 out of their last 12 games, a run of victories which has taken them to just two points behind second-placed Rangers.
Despite that, Finnish stopper Enckelman insists that Saints are capable of causing an upset on Sunday a belief based on his side’s new-found defensive resilience.
He said, “They are definitely the form side in the country at the moment and there is no doubt it will be a tough game.
“It is at Tynecastle and they will be really up for it as they will look on the cup as a chance to win something as are we.
“Our main aim this season is to stay in this league but it would be equally as nice to put a good cup run together.”
He added, “We have already drawn with Hearts in Edinburgh this season so we know we are capable of causing them problems.
“We are also on a good run of form of our own, probably because we are a lot more solid at the back now.”
Ecnkelman said, “However, you have to defend as a team. If you just have the back four defending, then you are not going to win games.
“We have a good compact team and we do not allow the opposition too much space.”Pompey victoriousEnckelman has already savoured the experience of appearing in the FA Cup final with Cardiff against Portsmouth in 2008.
The day was to end in disappointment after Kanu scored the only goal of the game for Pompey.
However, the stopper acknowledged that the luck of the draw can play a huge part in who reaches cup finals.
“The only premiership side we played during our cup run was Middlesbrough away in the quarter-final,” he said.
“The draw was quite kind to us unlike our Scottish Cup one on Sunday.”
He added, “But anything is possible in a one-off cup game.
“Even when we played Celtic here in the league cup we were 3-0 down at half-time but still managed to make a game of it by getting two back.
“The cup has a bit of magic about it and the games always seem to have more twists and turns than normal league matches.”
Enckelman said,”The league title is probably going to be between the Old Firm but the cup is anybody’s.
“Everything is possible as Ross County showed last season in getting to the final.”
Saints boss Derek McInnnes also pinpointed his side’s defensive qualities as the main reason for grounds of cautious optimism for Sunday’s cup tie.
He said, “I think we gained a lot of confidence in our last league game against Hearts even though we lost,” he said.
“We picked up some good results after that but in every one of those performances, we have looked very strong defensively.
“That is crucial as we are not a free-scoring side.
“But we are now a lot more confident than we were before we went into that last game against Hearts.
“Hopefully, that will help us get the right result as we are determined to have a cup run this season.
“Every one of our players will go to Tynecastle knowing we are capable of winning.”