It takes a big game, a big opponent and big stakes to move the Perth football conversation on from St Johnstone’s cup double.
But Thursday night’s Europa League clash with Galatasaray, which is heading towards a McDiarmid Park sell-out, has done the job.
Midfielder Murray Davidson lives in the city and didn’t need to learn that tickets were being snapped up quickly for the Europa League third round qualifier to gauge the level of excitement and anticipation.
“You can feel it,” said the veteran midfielder. “It’s carried on from winning the two cups and even last week I was still getting people come up to me to talk about the double.
“Now I’m walking about Perth and folk are asking about the Galatasaray game.
“As a player you are focused on playing so it’s not until you go out on the streets that you realise how many people are involved in it.
“I saw flags hanging out windows this morning again and it’s brilliant when people buy into it. Hopefully we get a massive crowd on Thursday.
“If we sell out then it will be absolutely unbelievable.
“I’ve seen European nights where it can be a brilliant atmosphere. We had such a successful season last year but there were no fans in.
“We’ve seen the Rosenborg game, the Luzern game, the Eskisehirspor game – they are great nights and atmospheres – so the more we get through the gate the better and as a player we’ll be buzzing to play in front of it.”
Davidson is an old hand at European football but he admitted that adapting to the conditions in Istanbul was an issue for the Saints team last week.
It will make home comforts for the return leg all the more welcome – and potentially significant.
“We all struggled for the first 20 minutes in Turkey breathing-wise,” said the former Scotland international. “It was so humid. It was a totally different air and looked like it could be a long night.
“Once we settled into the game we posed more of a threat going forward and limited their chances.
“We more than held our own in the second half and that fills you with confidence because we came away with such a positive result.
“Not just the goal but we had a few other chances to score – Stevie May’s had one, I’ve had one, and David Wotherspoon. We know we have to put in another big performance but last week showed we’re capable.”
Home advantage
Davidson added: “It won’t help us now but we’ve always had a decent home record in Europe in recent times.
“We’ve done well here domestically as well.
“You have to take confidence from that but the biggest thing will be our performance last week, which showed we can hold our own.
“Let’s be honest, Galatasaray would much rather be playing the second leg at home with this scoreline.
“There are always little things that add up for away games in Europe – the heat, the travelling, the food.
“We’re now in an environment where we’re totally comfortable.
“That helps give us a chance and we’ll need another massive performance on top of it.
“We know it will be just as difficult as last week and that a lot of people will still fancy Galatasaray because they’re such a big team.
“But we’ll believe in ourselves and we can’t wait for it.”
Rubbing shoulders with household names of world football has inflated Perth belief rather than sapped it.
“Arda Turan must be a legend there because he got some reception coming on at half-time,” said Davidson.
“Ryan Babel is another one who has been at the very top level. There are so many of them – and some weren’t even playing.
“If you can’t take confidence from performing well against players like that, you never will.
“We’ll be up against a team of international players again but in a one-off game, you just never know.”
Galatasaray’s recent European record on their travels – played 12, lost nine, won one – shouldn’t fill Saints with dread.
But it won’t make them over-confident either.
“That isn’t going to influence the way we approach the game,” said Davidson.
“Yeah, we’ll watch the videos and go through their strengths and weaknesses but we’ll be focusing on ourselves and what we have to do to hurt them.
“We know we’re capable of another big performance. And we’ll need it.”
