Tam Scobbie has promised to put his red-card misery behind him and focus on helping St Johnstone into the top six.
Scobbie was back in the Saints side for Sunday’s 3-0 defeat to Celtic after being sidelined for just short of a month.
He was banned by the SFA retrospectively for “attempting to headbutt an opposing player” namely Brad Mckay during the mayhem that followed Hearts’ second goal in the 3-3 draw at McDiarmid Park on January 18.
He was able to play the following midweek against Partick Thistle but, once the suspension kicked in, he was forced to watch from the stand as the Perth men lost their Scottish League Cup semi-final to Aberdeen and then beat Forfar in the William Hill Scottish Cup.
It was frustrating for Scobbie, to say the least, and now he is determined to stay out of trouble as Saints target a top-six finish.
“I want to put all that behind me,” he declared.
“It is something that I shouldn’t have got involved in, but at the time you are not really thinking about that. You are looking to stick up for your team-mates.
“Big Fraz (Frazer Wright) was lying on the ground and other things were happening. I probably should not have got involved but I did.
“I have had to take my punishment on the chin and hopefully the next time it happens I can keep away from it.
“I was in there as a peacemaker initially, but I am experienced and should have stayed out. Ultimately, it is me who has paid the price as it cost me a semi-final appearance, which I was disappointed about.
“So it was good to be back because what looked like it was only going to be a one-week ban turned into almost a month out because of matches being called off.
“It was great to be in amongst it again at Parkhead, even though it wasn’t the result we wanted.
“It was always going to be difficult against a Celtic team that was coming off a defeat to Aberdeen the previous weekend.
“We knew they would be trying even harder to get a good result against us because of that loss. We have to hold our hands up and say that we didn’t do enough on the day to trouble Celtic. They were far better than us.”
The Perth club’s main target now is to be in the top half when the split comes.
“Every game is important coming up to that,” he said.
“Hibs are right on our tails and Inverness are just in front of us. Hopefully we can get the win against Caley Thistle and close that gap.
I would say this match is definitely bigger for us than the Celtic one. We were under no pressure at Celtic Park because no one really expected us to go and get a result there.
“In saying that we still should have performed better and put them under more pressure.
“Inverness are the team we want to catch, so if we can get that victory then that could set us up nicely for the fixtures leading up to the split.
“After a poor result you want to put it to bed as quickly as possible and get back to work.
“It is good that next up for us is a game at home against a decent side. These are going to be a massive few months for us as we try to kick on.”
Scobbie knows the Inverness management team extremely well having been a player under John Hughes and a team-mate of Russell Latapy at Falkirk.
“I know Yogi really well and I spoke to him when he got the Inverness job,” he added.
“I think he and Yogi will do really well with Inverness.
“Russell will be more laid back, while Yogi’s a bit more hyped up. It is a transition period for them just now. Terry Butcher has gone and it’s about the new man stamping his authority on the club.
“There has also been a change of style, but it is to a style that the Caley Thistle fans will like to watch.
“Their players need to blend together if they are to get good results, but hopefully that doesn’t happen this weekend because we want the three points.”