Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Andy Considine can see it in the eyes of St Johnstone players – they are now in the zone for Premiership survival fight

Saints have a five-game mini-league and can win all five, according to the former Aberdeen defender.

St Johnstone felt they should have beaten Hibs. Images: SNS.
St Johnstone felt they should have beaten Hibs. Images: SNS.

Andy Considine can see it in the eyes of his St Johnstone team-mates that they are going into their post-split battle for Premiership survival in the right frame of mind.

The veteran defender would have loved to go into the five-match run-in on the back of a victory against Hibs.

But the performance, the point and the reaction in the Perth dressing room after it made Saturday’s 1-1 draw a potentially pivotal moment in their season all the same.

“It’s obviously been a tough week for us all,” said the former Aberdeen man.

“Callum (Davidson) brought me to this club. He’s been magnificent for this club.

“But we’ve worked really hard all week on the training pitch and that showed in the game.

“There was loads of energy – the boys were bang at it – and we just needed that final bit, putting the ball in the back of the net.

“Our heads are a bit low but it’s a positive performance at home when we felt Hibs were hanging on a bit.”

Considine added: “Our home form needs to improve. We know that.

“Whatever fixtures we get at home, we need to get positive results from them.

“If we show a performance like that one, I don’t think that will be a problem.

“We’ve got experience in that dressing room.

“There’s been a real reality check that we haven’t been good enough as players and as a team at times.

“Now we’ve got a mini-league of five games and we want to finish top.

“I look at those five teams and think: ‘We can win all five’.

“The belief in that dressing room is that we can. We’re more than up for it.”

Striker’s instincts needed

Saints had several near things when they were sustaining second half pressure, Considine’s out-stretched leg at the back post when Stevie May drilled a low shot across goal among them.

“I’ve played it over in my head again and again,” said the Scotland international. “I should’ve been more on my toes.

“Because all Mayso is going to do is flash it across the face of goal.

“My striker’s instincts were left behind when I was about 12 years old unfortunately!

“There was that one and plenty of other opportunities that we need to start taking.

“Creating those chances and being in those positions is positive to see.

“We got a lot more bodies in the box and good crosses were coming in.

“So it will come. It will fall for us.”

The pack closing in

Considine may be confident but he’s not blind to the fact that Dundee United and Kilmarnock are within touching distance, albeit they now have a six-point gap over Ross County.

“Of course you look over your shoulder,” he said.

“The guy on the tannoy was straight at it as soon as the final whistle went!

“It’s a reality that we’re in a fight.

“I looked at the boys in the eye after the game and they are all determined to see it through.

“If we work as hard as we have done in the last week and produce a performance like that, we will be more than ready.”

Steven MacLean at full-time. Image: SNS.

Interim boss, Steven MacLean can count on the players’ absolute commitment, according to Considine.

They certainly showed that against Hibs.

“We’re all 110% behind Macca,” he said.

“I played with him and obviously he’s been my assistant manager here.

“He’s been fantastic for me, the boys and the club.

“We have to focus on ourselves, on the job at hand and as long as Macca is here we are behind him.

“At the moment he’s doing a fantastic job.”

Conversation