In the short time Michael Duberry has been a St Johnstone player his growing passion for the Perth club has been clear for all to see. That’s why the former English premiership star, who has been sold for millions of pounds over the course of an illustrious career, found Saturday’s Hampden horror show so hard to stomach.
“I’m on Twitter and I talk to a lot of Saint fans. I knew they had waited 127 years to get to a cup final,” he explained. “We wanted to be remembered as a team which reached the club’s first ever Scottish Cup final and as one which grabbed some glory.
“I wanted my face in photographs around the wall at McDiarmid for years to come because we made history, not as part of another team that fell at the final hurdle.
“Right now, every player in our dressing room is just another on a long list of nearly men. And that hurts. If people are happy with that, so be it. I wanted to be on a different list and that meant taking the club to the cup final.
“I wanted St Johnstone fans to be proud of us and what we had done. I felt for them after the game.
“But it isn’t just about me, even if it turns out to be my last shot at making a cup final and grabbing some glory. Losing at Hampden was one of the worst feelings I’ve ever had as a professional footballer and I have suffered relegation and disappointment with Leeds United and Reading during my career. Those experiences left me numb and so does this.”
Duberry added, “The opportunity to play in a cup final might not come around again. I am 35 and my last cup semi-final was when I was 23 and I played for clubs that were challenging for trophies. It might turn out to be my last chance of reaching a final.
“Some of the younger guys involved against Motherwell might not reach another cup semi-final. It’s hard reaching that stage of competitions so you can never take it for granted.”
It’s not often that the Saints’ backline has come under criticism in the last few months, but Duberry admitted there was no hiding place in the wake of Saturday’s 3-0 defeat.
“Defensively, things went all wrong. One thing you have been able to depend on this season is that we defend well as a team but it was anything but good for 20 minutes. Things settled down after that but they had their goals and they could relax.
“The only thing that was St Johnstone-like was that we didn’t score.
“I could have handled it if it had been a close game and we had done ourselves justice but we lost in a horrible fashion and as players we have to look at ourselves, and I include myself. No one is being singled out.
“It might all have been different if it was us who had got an early goal but we didn’t and that has been our problem. We had balls going across the box but boys have to throw themselves at these chances.
“At the other end Motherwell were working their tails off, causing us problems and taking us out of pockets.”