CALLUM Davidson tonight predicted that St Johnstone an excellent chance to win the first League Cup in their 137 year history following their 3-0 win over Hibernian in the semi-final at Hampden.
A first-half Jason Kerr goal and second-half efforts from Shaun Rooney and Craig Conway saw the Perth club defeat their Edinburgh rivals comfortably.
The McDiarmid Park outfit have played in the final of the Betfred-sponsored competition twice before – in 1969 when they lost 1-0 to Celtic and in 1998 when they were defeated 2-1 by Rangers.
However, the Parkhead and Ibrox clubs won’t be involved in the final next month and Davidson feels that St Johnstone can take advantage of their absence.
“We’ve put ourselves in the position now where we’ve got an opportunity,” he said. “The Old Firm aren’t there.
“They’ve dominated for years so when these chances come I think you’ve got to try and take them. I said that to the players today and I thought they did.”
St Johnstone keeper Zander Clark produced outstanding saves from Paul Hanlon and Jamie Murphy and Hibs also struck the crossbar and post in the opening half an hour.
But Davidson, who was assistant to Tommy Wright when Saints won the Scottish Cup in 2014, was delighted with how his men recovered from their unconvincing start.
“We probably got the little bit of luck we haven’t had this season,” he said. “Zander pulled off great saves and a couple of times the woodwork saved us.
“But we dug in and that was really pleasing. We got better because we probably couldn’t get any worse than the first 15 or 20 minutes.
“Hibs were good so credit to them. But once we got the goal it settled us and we came out and performed well in the second half.
“I thought Hibs were good, but I also think we got our goals at just the right time. For me, I’m pleased to see us get two set-play goals.
“We’ve not had enough of them this season. Two fantastic headers and they gave us a real good platform for the rest of the game.”
Davidson added: “It’s difficult to say how being in the final as a manager will compare to the Scottish Cup final when I was assistant. I was just worried about this game and I can look forward to the final now.
“I always say a semi-final is just a game to get to the final and give yourself a chance of winning the trophy and I’m delighted for the players more than anyone else.
“They have performed a lot better than results have shown this season, but we showed in the second-half we are a good team and we can play well and I’m so pleased for them.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here