There will be confidence but not over-confidence in the St Johnstone squad as they transition from Premiership to Scottish Cup duty against Rangers, according to Liam Craig.
As satisfying as it was to rescue a point in stoppage-time in midweek – their first against the runaway champions in four fixtures this season – there is an awareness that Steven Gerrard’s side will raise their game at the weekend.
And Craig’s message to his Perth team-mates is that they will need to do the same.
“I don’t think Wednesday’s result will do much to Rangers,” said the veteran midfielder, who scored the penalty equaliser in the 1-1 draw.
“They showed how strong their squad is with the changes they made.
“You look over when they’re making subs and it’s Aribo coming on. Morelos and Kent are still in the stand.
“I said in the build-up to Wednesday that it would be two totally different games. I stand by that.
“It’s never easy going to Ibrox. They have only lost one game domestically.
“Sunday is a totally different game, different venue and I’d imagine changes in both teams.
“What Rangers have shown this season is a consistency, confidence and belief to do well week in, week out.
“When they haven’t been at their best they still find ways to get wins and points.
“We did well on Wednesday but we know we’ll need to be even better at the weekend to get through to the semi-final.”
The big picture for Saints as far as their point against Rangers is concerned isn’t the potential knock-on impact for the cup quarter-final, it’s the small but significant change it has made in the battle for fifth – and probably European football – that they are fighting out with Livingston.
With three games left in the league campaign and Livi to play on the last day, that Rangers result gives control back to the McDiarmid Park side who now know that three victories would get the job done.
“From the split we have wanted to finish fifth,” said Craig. “We still have an opportunity to do that so the point was huge.
“It was never going to be a case of us being happy with just getting top six.
“We want to finish as strongly as we can and make this a really memorable season. We’re on course to do that.
“There is still a long way to go. We still need to go to Easter Road, Celtic Park and play Livingston.
“But we showed on Wednesday and over the course of the season that we’re good enough to compete.”
Reflecting on Wednesday night’s performance, Craig was impressed with his team’s resilience. It’s normally Rangers or Celtic who score the late equaliser or winner, not their opponents.
“We definitely deserved the point,” he said.
“We started the game really well and created a few decent chances which we should’ve done better from.
“You don’t get many opportunities against Rangers. When you do, you need to take them.
“But fair play to the boys because we dug in and showed great character after going a goal down.
“It was important that we played with a good shape and didn’t go chasing the game. We played with discipline.
“As long as there was only a goal in it, you can get opportunities.”
