St Johnstone centre-back David McCracken believes the whole squad can take credit for being able to boast the best defensive record in the SPL outwith Celtic this season.
Saints have only conceded 38 times in the league this term thus far, second only to champions elect Celtic’s 30, and it is a statistic that has ensured the Perth side are looking forward to top six football in the coming weeks.
But while defensively-minded players will no doubt be the first to be congratulated, ‘Cracks’ reckons everybody at McDiarmid Park has played their part in another successful campaign so far and sees no reason why they should let up heading into the run-in.
“The goalkeeper and back four will probably take plaudits for that but it’s the whole team who have done really well this year,” he said.
“There have been a lot of games where we’ve probably not played our best but got to the situation where we think to ourselves ‘we’re not going to be beaten’ or vice versa.
“If we’ve gone behind in games the strikers or midfielders or someone at the back has popped up to get us a goal.
“St Johnstone has always been like that, working together, and it’s something that has been associated with the club for a lot of years.
“It’s not a massive club in comparison with Celtic and Rangers, but what they lack in that they make up in togetherness.
“People say we’ve done well to get into the top six for the second year in a row, but for us and probably any club in the top six everybody will be hoping to progress a bit further because they know it is possible.
“In the last game before the split, there were three teams still vying for the sixth spot which shows you how tight it’s been this year.
“It’s a great achievement for the club to be in the top six and I think it’s testament to the squad from last year and the boys who have came from last year and continued with that.
“The boys who have come in this year have kicked on again. In saying that, we’ve had a lot of draws again this year and maybe if we had turned some of those draws into wins it just shows where we could be.”
McCracken was delighted to see Saints handed three home fixtures in the post split list against Ross County, Inverness and Motherwell and maintains playing top six games at McDiarmid Park could make all the difference.
“It’s massive to have three home games,” he said.
McCracken’s bout of illness came at the wrong time for the 31-year-old stopper, and he admits he has a fight on his hands to break back into the starting line-up.
But he said: “At this point of the season, as long as the team is winning and we’re progressing, that’s the main thing.”
McCracken will no doubt have one eye on Sunday’s Scottish Cup semi-final between Celtic and Dundee United, as a Celtic cup win would open up another Europa League place.
Saints will not be the only ones with interest in that but McCracken would far rather see the European issue in their own hands.