St Johnstone are determined that top six D-Day won’t be the finishing line for their season, according to Perth midfielder Liam Craig.
Tommy Wright’s men are targeting fourth in the Premiership and hopefully a place in the Europa League qualifiers that goes with it.
But those lofty ambitions will count for nothing if they lose at Rugby Park today and other results go against them.
If it all goes wrong this afternoon they would be left in bottom six no man’s land, with nothing significant left to play for.
“We realise what’s at stake for us,” Craig said. “We know what a great opportunity this is.
“If this club could get into Europe five seasons in a row it would be incredible.
“Kilmarnock have got their aims and will do everything they can to win. But we’ve got our aims as well top six and maybe Europe.
“There’s definitely enough hunger and commitment in our team to do that.”
The former Falkirk and Hibs man added: “It would be a real disappointment to miss out on the top six.
“From the start of the season that has been our aim. It’s what this club has been used to achieving in the past few years.
“The opportunity to get into Europe would still be there. That’s how big Saturday is.
“There’s a chance that a win would take us into fourth and we’d look to kick on from there.
“We don’t just want to be in the top six.
“If we make it, obviously we’ll have a better understanding of whether there will still be a possible European place for fourth after the Rangers v Celtic semi-final.
“Even if there isn’t, getting in the top six carries on this club’s achievements from previous seasons.”
Craig had to serve a suspension while his team-mates passed up their first opportunity to seal the top six place against Dundee United last weekend.
“I was frustrated to be sitting in the stand on Saturday,” he said. “Especially as the game was on the back of a win at Tynecastle.
“I’ve been in and out of the team for a while and that was my first start in a few weeks.
“It was a massive result for the team and disappointing for me to not be involved against United.
“We’re looking forward to Kilmarnock now though. It’s another opportunity to clinch our top six place and really push for fourth.
“We were frustrated to lose but there was also a realisation that we were still in a really strong position.
“It’s really tight. Even Motherwell could still drop out.
“We’ve done well to put ourselves in this position and we want to finish it off by winning tomorrow.
At Rugby Park today Steven MacLean will have to go through Craig’s ordeal of last week.
The fact that the striker can’t now play on artificial pitches is a blow to Saints, Craig admitted, but not a fatal one.
“He’s our top goalscorer and it’s obviously disappointing that he won’t be available,” he said.
“But Chris Kane has got us goals before and Danny Swanson was very impressive just behind him at Tynecastle.
“And there are the likes of Graham Cummins and John Sutton. It’s an opportunity for others to stake a claim.
“The reason for our success so far has been that everybody has played their part. If that’s going to continue the whole squad will need to keep doing that.
Craig revealed that talks have begun with a view to extending his stay in Perth beyond this season.
“There was a brief discussion about a new contract a few weeks ago,” he explained.
“That will sort itself out as long as the team is successful. I’m hopeful I will be here next season even though the talks haven’t gone any further.
“Right now it’s a case of finishing the season positively and seeing what we can do at the end of it.”
Chris Millar should be available but Murray Davidson and Steven Anderson are injured.