St Johnstone may have enjoyed life on the road these last few months, but manager Derek McInnes can’t wait to get back home.
Saints have quietly strung together an impressive set of results over the winter and have lost only one of their last seven games, a late yielding to Celtic.
The Parkhead setback aside, since mid-November they have won at Pittodrie, drawn at Easter Road, triumphed away to St Mirren, knocked high-flying Hearts out of the Scottish Cup at Tynecastle and, most recently, got a point down at Kilmarnock.
Just one home match a victory over Inverness Caley Thistle has been played in that time, giving what McInnes describes as an “imbalance” to Saints’ schedule.
However, they will be back among their ain fowk on Saturday when St Mirren visit McDiarmid Park, then Motherwell quickly follow them on the road to Perth the following Wednesday.
“I have to be pleased with the way we have played these last few weeks because we have been up against a lot of in-form teams on their own parks,” said McInnes.
“Other than that Celtic defeat we have been so consistent in our results away from home. The lads have managed to do everything that has been asked of them in order to get through some really difficult fixtures at places like Pittodrie and Rugby Park.”
He added, “There is an imbalance in the games we have played recently, though, and we will be delighted to get back home on Saturday.”
Jamie Adams has returned to full training after an ankle injury, while Kevin Rutkiewicz and Kevin Moon are continuing to make progress.