It’s become the most iconic St Johnstone goal celebration of the season.
And the man who brought ‘The Griddy’ to the Scottish Premiership, is hoping there’s plenty of life left in it yet.
Stevie May is one of many NFL fans in the McDiarmid Park dressing room.
But he’s the only one brave enough to mimic a touchdown routine.
Saints fans in the away ends at Tannadice and Easter Road have lapped up the May celebrations in 2022/23 and the Perth striker would love to add Rugby Park to that list on Saturday afternoon.
“It was going about the NFL for a while,” he said.
“Justin Jefferson was the first one to do it – he’s in my team, Minnesota Vikings.
Thanksgiving griddy for Justin Jefferson 🕺
pic.twitter.com/PK8URENGCN— PFF (@PFF) November 25, 2022
“We were mucking about in the changing room one day and it stuck.
“Hopefully I can do it a few more times before the end of the season.
“There’s a good few of us in an NFL fantasy league – I think I won it! We’ve had an ice hockey one going as well.
“Melker, Spoony, Drey, Murph and a few others. None of them have done the celebration, though!”
Scoring goals not easy at Rugby Park
Any goals this weekend for May or his team-mates will be well earned as Kilmarnock and their artificial turf are proving to be a formidable Premiership combination to overcome.
“The pitch does make it difficult,” he said. “The bounce and the spin can be difficult to judge.
“But there are no excuses to be made.
“There’s a familiarity for them but we have to go there and play our best.
“He (Derek McInnes) will have everyone up for the battle. They’re going to make it tough.
Pre-match 🎙️
Derek McInnes previews our #cinchPrem clash against St Johnstone.
🎟️ https://t.co/3frdh47Knw pic.twitter.com/1hNLiE3McF
— Kilmarnock FC (@KilmarnockFC) March 16, 2023
“He gets a response – I know that from my time at Aberdeen. Sometimes it’s a meeting or a talk after the game that does it.
“I think they’ve actually been a bit unlucky with some of their results in recent weeks.
“The chances are they might be more positive in the changing room than people think.
“There aren’t many left before the split.
“So when teams in the bottom six go to their place, they’ll see it as a chance to pick up points.
“But we want to take the points as well.”
A new partner?
“Myself and Nicky have played well together,” said the former Scotland international. “He’s been around the game for a similar length of time to me.
“When you build up experience and play with different types of striker you are better equipped to make it work with whoever you play with, whether that’s in a three or a two.
“It’s important you don’t focus too much on individuals.
“You have to concentrate on how you’re going to perform as a collective unit and be ready.
“It’s all about the team and making sure we get enough points to be safe as quickly as we can.
“I know how things can change in football. We can’t be complacent.
“The bigger the gap we can get the better.”
That gap will be 10 points to bottom and 10 to second bottom if Saints win this one, pretty much ensuring last year’s trauma is going to be avoided during the run-in.
“There’s no two ways about it, for the club and people’s jobs and contracts and stuff, a lot of things happen if you get relegated that you don’t want to happen,” said May.
“It is stressful being down there. Luckily enough we have a cushion but we know how quickly that can change.
“It’s important to keep picking up points to make sure we are not in that position again.”
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