Growing up as a St Johnstone fan, cup finals always felt like a “bridge too far” to Liam Gordon.
But now that he’s a Saints player, the centre-back believes they are an achievable goal.
Gordon watched on as the teams of Owen Coyle and Derek McInnes fell at the last four hurdle time and time again, through a combination of bad luck, under-performing and coming up against a better side.
It wasn’t until 2014 that Tommy Wright’s Scottish Cup winners broke the mould.
And Gordon is confident that Callum Davidson’s men can follow that lead and see off Hibs at Hampden Park to clinch a place in a final for only the fourth time in Saints’ history.
“It felt as if it was a bridge too far before,” said the big defender on the semi-final curse. “But in 2014 we finally accomplished the impossible.
“St Johnstone fans need to still be thinking that we can go and win cups.
“We have a squad now which is young, it’s exciting and I genuinely feel like it is something we can look to achieve.
“It’s a great opportunity – something that you dream of when you are a young boy, let alone play for St Johnstone, but to get silverware for club. We don’t have much of it.
“That does drive me on. I would love nothing more than to be a part of something like that. Hopefully come Saturday night we are in a position to go for it.”
The fact that there has been no mixing with supporters in the build-up to this semi-final, and there will of course be no fans from either side in the stadium hasn’t impacted on the big-game mentality of the Saints squad, according to Gordon.
We know the level of this game and we are prepared to give everything for it.
“It feels to us that it is still a massive match and what an opportunity we’ve got for the whole club,” he said.
“You’ve not got your mates saying: ‘I’ve got a night booked through in Glasgow’ but that doesn’t make a difference to us anyway.
“That is only the factor that is a bit different. Within the changing room we know the level of this game and we are prepared to give everything for it.
“We’ve not been playing in front of fans all season.
“I would have loved to play in a full Hampden in a game of this level. That would have been something special.
“It is not to be so we just keep going.”
