Graham Gartland got to meet one of his sporting heroes legendary world champion boxer Barry McGuigan last weekend and the St Johnstone defender has insisted the Perth club are still in there swinging in the SPL top six fight.
“They’ll take a bit of confidence from their performance and will also draw on a feeling of being hard done by. That will make them dangerous.
“The games between the two of us have always been tough in my time here and even before that, I’m told.”
Sam Parkin, Kevin Moon, Jody Morris, Michael Duberry and Jamie Adams are definitely out today, while Danny Invincibile is a doubt.
Perth boss Derek McInnes said, “This has always been a tough venue for us and I don’t expect anything different tomorrow. We know we’ll have our work cut out to get a win.
“Anytime we’ve won there it has been on the back of a very good performance and that’s what we’ll need on Saturday. I saw Hamilton at Tannadice and against Hibs.
“Their level of performance has improved in the last few weeks and we expect them to come out fighting. But, as is always the case, I would hope the hungrier side comes out of our dressing room.”
Hamilton midfielder Mark Carrington is set to miss today’s game due to a groin strain.
Mark McLaughlin resumed light training this week and could come into contention. But Dougie Imrie will start a two-match ban.
Alex Neil is set to continue for Accies after making his return from a hip injury against Dundee United. Martin Canning and Marco Paixao remain out.
The centre-back travelled to the Braehead Arena with team-mates Jody Morris and Michael Duberry last Saturday to watch Ricky Burns in action.
After the fight he got chatting to his fellow Irishman, the Clones Cyclone, who was in Glasgow as a ringside pundit for Sky Sports. For Gartland it was a few minutes to cherish.
“A few of us went along to the big fight on Saturday night,” he said. “Afterwards myself, Jody and Dubes all met Barry. A friend of Jody’s introduced us.
“His fighting career was a bit before my time but he’s still one of my heroes. He’s one of Ireland’s greatest ever sportsmen.
“My dad’s told me all about him and I’ve read up on him and watched lots of his fights. It was great to be able to chat with him. I’ve got friends back home who are fighters, so it’s a sport I like to watch.
“Barry’s brother was there as well and he knew all about what had happened at Brechin earlier that afternoon, which I was a bit taken aback about.
“They say don’t meet your heroes because they only let you down in real life-but that definitely wasn’t the case on Saturday. Even lads like Dubes and Jody were buzzing after meeting him and they’re not even Irish.
“He was actually really a genuinely top bloke, so I was even more happy walking away after chatting with him.”Healing the woundsGartland and his Saints team-mates went through their equivalent of 12 rounds with McGuigan in the Glebe Park mudbath a few hours previously but the former Drogheda skipper has insisted the scars will be quick to heal.
“It was a tough day all right,” he said. “It was one of those afternoons when a lot of things went wrong for us and went right for them. They put us under a lot of pressure and we can’t have any arguments about the result.
“We’ll have a chance to put it right on Tuesday, which hopefully we will, but we’ve got a match against Hamilton to focus on first. Winning is a habit, so we’ll want a victory over Accies to take into Tuesday’s replay.”
Saints’ top-six aspirations are on the line at Hamilton as, realistically, anything but a win against the SPL’s basement boys would leave them as long odds outsiders.
Gartland added, You have to aim high. There’s no point in looking over your shoulder. We’ve got the chance to do it, so we have to do our best to take that chance. We’ve got a very positive dressing room, which starts with the manager, and we’ll be thinking we can win this game and build on that.
“We’ve got a good record of bouncing back from poor performances and hopefully that’s what we’ll do. Hamilton are scrapping away at the moment and will do everything they can to get the three points. Seemingly they were very unlucky to lose late on to Dundee United recently.