St Johnstone keeper Alan Mannus hopes his heroics against Celtic on Tuesday night have laid down a marker in terms of his and his club’s ambitions this year.
Mannus’ man of the match performance played a huge part in earning the Perth club a point against the champions elect, and keeps Saints very much in the hunt for second spot in the SPL.
But the 30-year-old shot-stopper is also hoping his efforts have caught the eye of Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill as he seeks to add to the five international caps he has to his name.
With first choice Northern Irish keeper Roy Carroll out injured, Mannus impressed as an able replacement in this month’s friendly with Malta and admits shows like the one against Celtic in midweek won’t do his cause any harm.
“It’s obviously not going to be a bad thing playing like that, but I still think regardless that when Roy Carroll is fit he’ll play automatically,” he said.
“He’s the number one, and if he’s fit he plays no matter what. Who knows if the manager was watching, but you never know.
“I said after the Malta game that hopefully they know I can do a job if Roy’s not fit for whatever reason, so if he was watching then hopefully it showed it again.
“Nobody seems to know what’s happening with Roy’s injury because he’s in Greece and you can’t find out much about it. You can’t really just go on the internet and find out about it.
“I do try and keep an eye on what’s happening and he didn’t play on Sunday again for Olympiakos, so I don’t know what’s happening. He’s a good guy and I hope he’s OK really, but we’ll see what happens.”
Mannus did brilliantly to keep Saints in the game in the first half of Tuesday’s 1-1 draw against Celtic, and that gave his side a platform from which to go and secure a point.
“It’s very pleasing for me and for us to keep it at one and for me to be involved in that is very good for me personally because my mum and dad came over for the game and my girlfriend was here with them as well,” he continued.
“I prefer games like that where I’ve got stuff to do rather than nothing to do and then the other team maybe gets a scrappy goal. It’s much better for me to be involved.
“Celtic started very well and obviously they are a top team, but we maybe could have been better in the first half.
“We did well to keep it at one, and personally I’m glad that we did keep it at one throughout the whole game as well because I think we have a good defensive record.
“It’s a massive point for us, but we were all very disappointed after Saturday’s game against Ross County. It was one of those games where you are thinking we’ve got to win.
“You look at the games that are left and you are thinking you’ve got to win that to give yourself a chance of getting into the top six.”
Mannus also reckons the fact Saints are unbeaten against Celtic in the league this season speaks volumes about their confidence at the moment.
“I think with the results we’ve had against them this year, I think there’s a mentality where there’s an expectation in the changing room to go out and beat Celtic at home because we did it earlier in the season,” he said.
“Maybe last year at times you got the impression that we weren’t expecting to do something it was just giving it a good go.
“Maybe I’m wrong but to me this year and it’s coming from the manager more than anyone there’s a feeling you can beat these teams or even draw against them. So I think that’s a good thing that we have that belief.
“It’s very tight in the league and we’ve beat Celtic and drawn twice in the league with them, but the pleasing thing for me is that we’ve only let in one goal in each of those games.
“We have a good defensive record and that’s very important for me.
“I know we probably haven’t kept the most clean sheets but I’d rather have one of the better defensive records than the most clean sheets.”