The Run In

[Satan]

I suppose they can play a strong team that goes out, plays within themselves and subs their best guys off at half-time. 

They know what is more important now.

[Kingsmills]

I have a feeling that many of our players will be spending more time on the physiotherapy table than on the training pitch in the coming few days.

[Satan]

I would certainly agree that treatment will be required just to keep the limbs moving freely as well as injury prevention. 

No hard running at this late stage.

I hope to hell that there will be plenty of ball work as well, the last two games have shown there is plenty of practice needed in that regard.

[CaleyTennis]

Looking at St J result today then I'd say we should go in with a lot of confidence against a team very low on confidence

I had a look at their team, they had McCart, Rooney, Gilmour, Middleton and Ciftci starting and Gordon, Brown, Hallberg, Craig and Hendry on the bench.

And that was a Hibs team that just lost to now relegated DUNDEE last midweek.

I'm sure Saints supporters will be overly concerned going into Friday despite our depleted squad.

 

Believe guys, believe

Edited May 15, 2022 by CaleyTennis
Emoji addition

[Kingsmills]

7 hours ago, CaleyTennis said:

Looking at St J result today then I'd say we should go in with a lot of confidence against a team very low on confidence

I had a look at their team, they had McCart, Rooney, Gilmour, Middleton and Ciftci starting and Gordon, Brown, Hallberg, Craig and Hendry on the bench.

And that was a Hibs team that just lost to now relegated DUNDEE last midweek.

I'm sure Saints supporters will be overly concerned going into Friday despite our depleted squad.

 

Believe guys, believe

St Johnstone rested 6 players who are likely to start on Friday and the rest were instructed not to be too committed in a match which meant nothing to them for fear of injury or suspension.

We can read absolutely nothing into either the result or performance.

[Robert]

We should not fear them. There’s not a lot between the bottom of the Premiership and the top of the Championship.

This season we’ve done best against our challengers and struggled against teams in the bottom half.

We only lost twice in 20 games against Kilmarnock, Arbroath, Partick and Raith.

We are seeing determination and resilience in our squad and a desire to overcome adversity.

It will be tough, particularly if we don’t get Devine’s red card overturned, given we will also be missing Duffy, MacGregor, Sutherland and Walsh, but we can do this.

I’m looking forward to the double header, with cautious hope. 

[Kingsmills]

4 hours ago, Robert said:

We should not fear them. There’s not a lot between the bottom of the Premiership and the top of the Championship.

This season we’ve done best against our challengers and struggled against teams in the bottom half.

We only lost twice in 20 games against Kilmarnock, Arbroath, Partick and Raith.

We are seeing determination and resilience in our squad and a desire to overcome adversity.

It will be tough, particularly if we don’t get Devine’s red card overturned, given we will also be missing Duffy, MacGregor, Sutherland and Walsh, but we can do this.

I’m looking forward to the double header, with cautious hope. 

I too am cautiously hopeful and looking forward to these games with relish thanĺ any other since the cup final.

However, we can't read too much into the fact that they finished second bottom.

They are no world beaters and, in particular, find goals hard to come by. That said, they find themselves in that position very largely due to their abysmal league form and consequent results at the start of the season.

They recruited substantially and well in January and since the end of February, once these new signings bedded in, their form has been much closer to mid table.

These ties will not be easy and we will need to be close to our best over both legs but we can do this.

Top tier status is within touching distance and, if we show the level of commitment we did in Arbroath, we won't be far away.

[STFU]

There seems to be this delusional misconception among a lot of our support that we somehow reached the play offs and the play off finals by playing great football and showing some kind of gritty character.  The truth is that we finished 3rd in the poorest Championship we've seen in a long time, with a points total that would have struggled to find 5th place in previous seasons.

I celebrated our wins as much as anyone else and I'll be over the moon if we stick it to St Johnstone, but let's not kid ourselves that this squad or the manager is anything special.

[Kingsmills]

23 minutes ago, STFU said:

There seems to be this delusional misconception among a lot of our support that we somehow reached the play offs and the play off finals by playing great football and showing some kind of gritty character.  The truth is that we finished 3rd in the poorest Championship we've seen in a long time, with a points total that would have struggled to find 5th place in previous seasons.

I celebrated our wins as much as anyone else and I'll be over the moon if we stick it to St Johnstone, but let's not kid ourselves that this squad or the manager is anything special.

That is a bit harsh. Nobody, as far as I can see, is claiming that we played well in the play off matches but we did play well enough, albeit with a bit of good fortune, to get through.

However, you don't beat the team that finished second, sometimes down to 8 men and frequently down to 9, without showing grit and determination.

Right now, I prefer to concentrate on the positives and hope that the players and coaches are too.

The time for a post mortem is if and when our promotion hopes are finally dead and that very well may not happen.

[Satan]

Well, it looks like the pitch is being suitably watered in advance, just need to get the ruler out to make sure the green stuff is below 35mm and we're good to go.

No more excuses.

[STFU]

2 hours ago, Kingsmills said:

That is a bit harsh. Nobody, as far as I can see, is claiming that we played well in the play off matches but we did play well enough, albeit with a bit of good fortune, to get through.

However, you don't beat the team that finished second, sometimes down to 8 men and frequently down to 9, without showing grit and determination.

Right now, I prefer to concentrate on the positives and hope that the players and coaches are too.

The time for a post mortem is if and when our promotion hopes are finally dead and that very well may not happen.

Your first line states "with a bit of good fortune".  That itself is an explanation of how you "beat the team that finished second, sometimes down to 8 men and frequently down to 9, without showing grit and determination." 

[IBM]

 

From the clubs official twitter account.

The club can confirm that we have today appealed the red card decision against Danny Devine which was shown to him by referee Willie Collum on Friday night.

We would also have appealed the red card given to Wallace Duffy but due to the current rules this avenue was not open to us.

[Huisdean]

7 hours ago, STFU said:

There seems to be this delusional misconception among a lot of our support that we somehow reached the play offs and the play off finals by playing great football and showing some kind of gritty character.  The truth is that we finished 3rd in the poorest Championship we've seen in a long time, with a points total that would have struggled to find 5th place in previous seasons.

I celebrated our wins as much as anyone else and I'll be over the moon if we stick it to St Johnstone, but let's not kid ourselves that this squad or the manager is anything special.

The main aim this season was to get promoted. Of course we haven't played well at times this season but we've got a chance which we would have bitten your hand off for at the start of the season. If we do win and get promoted, then the team will need radical surgery but this really isn't the time for a post like this as I think most fans can see we aren't a team of world beaters but the team are giving their all for the cause. 

[Robert]

7 hours ago, STFU said:

There seems to be this delusional misconception among a lot of our support that we somehow reached the play offs and the play off finals by playing great football and showing some kind of gritty character.  The truth is that we finished 3rd in the poorest Championship we've seen in a long time, with a points total that would have struggled to find 5th place in previous seasons.

I celebrated our wins as much as anyone else and I'll be over the moon if we stick it to St Johnstone, but let's not kid ourselves that this squad or the manager is anything special.

At the start of the season, we’d all have been delighted if we knew we’d make the play off final and we have, for the first time since we got relegated.

This season is a missed opportunity in my opinion, as our bad run stopped us challenging for automatic promotion.

Equally our good runs contained good fortune and flattered us a bit.

I really think the Gardyne episode set us back, but we have come back from that and, without consistently performing well, have got into the play off final and, in my opinion, we deserve to be there. The players are playing for each other and showing commitment and desire: they could easily have folded when Collum made poor decisions on Friday but they stood strong and got us the victory.

We will have squad turnover whatever happens, as our loans will be leaving and we have a number out of contract.

If we get promoted, and it is possible we will, we need to strengthen the squad if we are to be competitive in the Premiership, but we have a decent nucleus in guys like Ridgers, Devine, Carson, Allardice, MacGregor and Mckay.

We need to find full backs, whichever league we end up in, and definitely a creative spark. If we lose Deas, we will need a new centre half too.

We need to nurture our youngsters: Hyde looks very promising and Nicolson impressed me when he came on as sub a few times earlier in the season.

I don’t think the posts I’ve read imply the delusional misconception you state, but a realistic delight that we are in the final with a chance of promotion.

Roll on Friday and Monday!

[No Shin Guards]

17 minutes ago, Robert said:

At the start of the season, we’d all have been delighted if we knew we’d make the play off final and we have, for the first time since we got relegated.

This season is a missed opportunity in my opinion, as our bad run stopped us challenging for automatic promotion.

Equally our good runs contained good fortune and flattered us a bit.

I really think the Gardyne episode set us back, but we have come back from that and, without consistently performing well, have got into the play off final and, in my opinion, we deserve to be there. The players are playing for each other and showing commitment and desire: they could easily have folded when Collum made poor decisions on Friday but they stood strong and got us the victory.

We will have squad turnover whatever happens, as our loans will be leaving and we have a number out of contract.

If we get promoted, and it is possible we will, we need to strengthen the squad if we are to be competitive in the Premiership, but we have a decent nucleus in guys like Ridgers, Devine, Carson, Allardice, MacGregor and Mckay.

We need to find full backs, whichever league we end up in, and definitely a creative spark. If we lose Deas, we will need a new centre half too.

We need to nurture our youngsters: Hyde looks very promising and Nicolson impressed me when he came on as sub a few times earlier in the season.

I don’t think the posts I’ve read imply the delusional misconception you state, but a realistic delight that we are in the final with a chance of promotion.

Roll on Friday and Monday!

I say, well said my fellow Sneckie fan!!

I think 'STFU' is a gadgy coff in disguise. If I track STFU down I'll feed the blighter to my Haggis flock Hannibal Lecter style, but only after I've made him watch Watkins and Vincent's cup final goals on loop for hours on end!!

Eh what?  

[Robert]

Any play off geeks with stats from previous seasons?

So far, a lower league team has prevailed in the other three with Queens Park, Edinburgh City and Bonnyrigg going up, and Dunfermline, Dumbarton and Cowdenbeath going down (with Queens Park and Edinburgh City getting promoted after finishing fourth).

Have we ever had a season where no team has avoided relegation in the play offs?

Hopefully that’s what happens this season and St Johnstone complete the set. 

[ictchris]

14 hours ago, Robert said:

Any play off geeks with stats from previous seasons?

So far, a lower league team has prevailed in the other three with Queens Park, Edinburgh City and Bonnyrigg going up, and Dunfermline, Dumbarton and Cowdenbeath going down (with Queens Park and Edinburgh City getting promoted after finishing fourth).

Have we ever had a season where no team has avoided relegation in the play offs?

Hopefully that’s what happens this season and St Johnstone complete the set. 

We've had playoffs in every division since 2013/14.

2013/14

Accies promoted to Premiership Hibs go down, Cowdenbeath stay in Championship, Stirling Albion promoted to League 1

2014/15

Motherwell stay in Premiership Rangers stay down (lol), Alloa stay in Championship, Stenhousemuir stay in League One

2015/16

Killie stay in Premiership Falkirk stay down, Ayr promoted to Championship, Queens Park promoted to League 1.

2016/17

Hamilton stay in Premiership Dundee Utd stay down, Brechin promoted to Championship, Forfar promoted to league 1

2017/18

Livingston promoted to Premiership Partick down, Alloa promoted to Championship, Stenny promoted to League 1

2018/19

St Mirren stay in the Premiership Dundee UTd stay down,  Queens stay in Championship, Clyde promoted to League 1

2019/20

No play-offs due to Covid

2020/21

Dundee promoted to Premiership Kille down, Morton stay in Championship, Dumbarton stay in League 1.

 

So it happened in 2018.  I don't think many people fancied Livi during that play off, although they had finished second so had one less play off tie to get through.

[ictchris]

Third placed Championship teams have qualifed for the finals on two previous occasions.

2014/15 - Rangers lost to Motherwell after beating Queen of the South and Hibs

2016/17 - Dundee Utd lost to Hamilton Accies after beating Morton and Falkirk

When we finished third in 2018/19 we lost to Dundee Utd in the semi-finals, after beating Ayr.

[Satan]

I think Livi failed to beat us in the league that year...they were a bit meh!

Anything can happen!