Making us play St Johnstone during the week is a bit odd. I'm sure there are closer teams each side could have played on a Tuesday night (for example, we have Motherwell a week on Saturday) and it seems a bit off for the Saintees. They don't bring the biggest of supports at the best of times so it's likely to be even smaller tomorrow, meaning the atmosphere is even quieter than if we'd played on a Saturday. Of course, our own situation will also contribute to that and it wouldn't be a surprise if tomorrow night is both our smallest and quietest league crowd of the season.
It's the performances of clubs like St Johnstone that frustrates St Mirren fans. They came storming into the first division and flew straight past us and are now in the top six for the third year running. Yes, they have a bigger budget, but surely not to the extent that they should be continually ahead of us and you have to wonder how they are able to make far better use of it. Even our head to head record against them is fairly poor, although we did at least manage to beat them earlier in the season when we produced a thrilling 4-3 victory. We need another win like that - be it a bog standard 1-0 or a dramatic rollercoaster of a game - to give us a boost just before the split.
While we lost 3-0 on Saturday it seems it wasn't actually that bad a performance. Until Celtic scored we were right in it and could probably have scored ourselves, so it seems there was no after-effect of the dramatic collapse against Dundee United. The other plus point was the teams just above us all lost as well, however we cannot keep relying on them doing that - especially as we're currently second bottom. We need points and fast and this is arguably our easiest game before the split, with a trip to Inverness and a home game against Motherwell to come. Of course, it will still be difficult but we have to go all out to get three points and give ourselves a fighting chance of staying up.
So, after losing our last two games with the same team should we change things up? It's a hard one, especially as the same team also did fairly when we beat Kilmarnock. Gregg Wylde must be a bit annoyed he didn't force his way into the team after his display as a sub that day and may be brought back into the side, while Jim Goodwin might also start after missing out at Parkhead. Who makes way is the big issue - Josh Magennis is one option so we have some natural width but it's hard to say which of Paul McGowan, John McGinn, Kenny McLean and Conor Newton would make way for our returning skipper.
It's possible that if your defence has conceded three goals in two games running you'd make a change, however we don't have many defensive options - and one of them, David van Zanten, is injured. One possibility is to put Goodwin into the backline, but that hasn't worked particularly well when it's been tried this season. It's likely to be the same four once again, while hopefully Marian Kello has now put his costly Tannadice error behind him. As well as Vanzy being injured we're also without Stephane Bahoken, but at least Gary Teale and Eric Djemba-Djemba seem to be fit again.
It's often said that goalies don't make good managers but Tommy Wright seems to have gone some way to disproving that myth with St Johnstone this season. OK, a repeat of their European exploits under Steve Lomas look to be beyond them, but they've already secured a place in the top six - a pretty good achievement for a club of the Saintees' size and fanbase. Perhaps the biggest disappointment has been in the League Cup, where they were destroyed by a rampant Aberdeen side in the semi-finals. That aside, Wright - who is unlikely to be in the dugout tomorrow night as he's recovering from an operation - has done a good job and also has a Scottish Cup semi-final to come in a few weeks. Against Aberdeen...
The Saintees might have had a better chance of making it through in the League Cup had they had Alan Mannus available. The goalie was suspended after an entertaining last minute barney against Hearts a few months ago, meaning 42-year-old Steve Banks had to play instead. He's hardly played in recent years, which may explain why they lost heavily - not the first time that's happened when Banks has been playing this season! Mannus recently signed a new contract and is a pretty handy keeper, although I've often felt he was a bit wobbly against us. The return of Steven Anderson has also helped out at the back, the centre-half missing a number of games due to a dislocated thumb - a pretty duff excuse unless you're a goalie! Frazer Wright seems to be back from injury and may line up alongside Anderson, or it could be recent signing Tim Clancy as Tam Scobbie is injured. The Saintees have a couple of decent fullbacks in the shape of Brian Easton and Dave Mackay, who I reckon is one of the top rightbacks in the country.
We have to worry about the possibility of a couple of our former strikers scoring against us tomorrow. Nigel Hasselbaink nearly always does so it wouldn't be a surprise if he did it again and he'll give our defence all sorts of problems. The other played for us rather longer ago - 16 years ago! Chris Iwelumo was just a youngster when he left us but has been around a fair bit since, missing an absolute sitter for Scotland in the process. He hasn't featured much for the Saintees since he joined them in January but the fact he hasn't scored for them yet is a bit of a worry. Of course, St Johnstone's main goal threat doesn't come from one of our old players but instead from Stevie May. He has been terrific this season and could win one of the awards up for grab after scoring 22 goals. It's almost certain he'll leave in the summer, but at least St Johnstone will get some cash for him. Michael O'Halloran came in from Bolton in January to help make up for the injury to Steven MacLean, but he's now back and has scored three goals since his return.
MacLean isn't the only one who has had injury problems, with Murray Davidson out until next season with a knee injury. That's a huge blow for Wright and he brought in James Dunne on loan from Stevenage in a bid to make up for that loss. David Wotherspoon continues to look a different player to the one Hibs let go in the summer, while Chris Millar has an annoying knack of doing well against us. Former Saint Paddy Craig is usually alongside Gary McDonald in midfield, with Lee Croft providing some extra width.
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