St Johnstone goal hero Liam Craig is determined to present European football as his leaving gift to the club.
Craig has signed a pre-contract deal with Hibs and will be playing at Easter Road instead of McDiarmid Park next season.
However, the man who scored the last-gasp equaliser against Dundee United that sealed a top-six SPL spot for Saints, would love to play a part in bringing continental competition back to Perth even if he won’t be involved himself.
“Finishing in the top six two years in a row is a big achievement for St Johnstone, no doubt about that,” said Craig, whose glancing header in the third-minute of stoppage time proved so valuable.
“With the squad we have here we would have been disappointed if we didn’t make it.
“We have been in the top half of the table all season and I think we deserve to be in there. It would have been horrible to miss out but we didn’t really think about that.
“Going to Inverness on Friday needing a win wouldn’t have been easy so we were hoping to avoid that. But it’s done now, we’re in the top six and we’re looking to kick on now.
“We want to push ourselves further up the league. We also got a taste of Europe last season and that’s where we want St Johnstone to be again.
“This is a well-run club, we get looked after well and it’s a great place to play your football. I have had a great five-and-a-half years here and we have built and built during that time.
“I honestly feel we have gotten better every season. The aim this year is to finish higher than the sixth place we achieved last season and I would love to leave here in the summer with the team in Europe again.
“That is what I am hoping for. People might wonder if I still care about the club because I have signed elsewhere but I think the way I celebrated the goal shows what it means to me.
“I have loved my time here and it will be hard to walk away. St Johnstone have been a massive step in my career. Now is the right time for me to move on but this club means a lot to me and I want to bow out on a high.”
Craig’s delight at getting the late leveller was heightened because it was he who was caught in possession by Mark Millar in the lead-up to Ryan Gauld’s opener for the Tangerines.
“It was some turnaround because I felt I owed it to the boys,” he said.
“I gave the ball away on the halfway line and that caused their goal. But once again we showed great character. So that goal is up there in terms of importance to me.
“I missed a penalty against United in our first year back and that cost us the top six.
“I wouldn’t say it was total payback but it’s nice. I didn’t have a great game but I was proud of the way we showed character.”