A week in the life of Liam Craig has taken the St Johnstone midfielder from one of his lowest moments in football to one of the highest.
After missing a penalty against Dunfermline, the former Falkirk man set up the winning goal for Dave Mackay in Saints’ historic weekend defeat of Celtic.
Craig has taken both experiences in his stride and is already focused on the next job helping the Perth club take care of Livingston in the Scottish Communities League Cup at McDiarmid Park tonight.
He said: “Nobody really gave us a chance so winning, so Sunday was one to savour. It was great for the players and great for the fans and hopefully we can build on it now.
“Everyone played their part and it makes up for the disappointment of the Dunfermline game, which definitely ranks amongst the worst I’ve felt after a game.”
He added: “If my penalty had gone in I think we would have gone on to beat Dunfermline because we dominated pretty much the whole game.
“We were only three games into the season at that point and there was no need to panic, just as we won’t be getting carried away with beating Celtic.”
The issue of who takes the next penalty has not yet arisen, but Craig revealed he will put his hand up again.
He said: “That miss is forgotten about now and if we get another one I’m more than happy to take it. I thought I dealt well with the miss for the rest of the game. I still put balls into the box and stepped up to take a free-kick at the end.
“That’s what the manager wants players who will take responsibility.”ChallengeHe added: “Sunday showed that we’re ready for whatever challenge is thrown at us as a team. Everybody stood up and was counted.”
Saints’ last cup tie was the painful defeat to Motherwell in the Scottish Cup semi-final, but Craig insisted that the Hampden ordeal has been put behind them.
“We were so disappointed to lose another semi, but as tough as it was you’ve got to hope that it will make you stronger. Losing on penalties to Rangers, knowing that Queen of the South were waiting in the final, was just as hard to take as the Motherwell defeat.”
He added: “We won’t be looking further ahead than Livingston though. They’ve made a really good start to their season. Kenny Deuchar and Bobby Barr were here and I also know Paul Watson from my time at Ipswich.
“We know this will be far from easy and we have to make sure we’re ready to go again.”
David Robertson and Carl Finnigan both trained on Tuesday and could be available.
Saints boss Derek McInnes said: “I watched Livingston beat Dundee and we know we are in for a tough cup tie. They will fancy their chances of an upset.”
He added: “We can’t afford to bask in the Celtic result. We have to go about our job properly. Hopefully our fans, as well as the players, will have taken a jolt of belief from the win over Celtic.
“But we can’t afford to ease off against Livingston.”
The visitors have no fresh injury worries.