The shape didn’t matter.
It was the show of solidarity when St Johnstone’s players gathered together in a tight pre-match cluster, then the fast start that followed it, that was crucial to sending out the right message to their supporters.
And captain Liam Gordon has pledged that the same unity from pitch to stands will be on evidence at McDiarmid Park for the Perth side’s must-win clash with play-off rivals, Ross County.
“It wasn’t a huddle, even though it turned into that,” said Gordon.
“We just wanted to get together and have a final word. Then the boys got closer and closer.
“When you’re getting people round like that there’s only so many shapes you can make!
“It wasn’t an attempt to replicate the Celtic one!
“We just wanted to get together and say a few words to each other.
“I think it showed the togetherness and gave the fans a bit of a lift as well.
“You could hear them in the background while we were speaking and it definitely helped us with the way we started the game.
“It created a nice little buzz for us and I don’t think it was a coincidence we started so well.
“Will we try it again? I don’t know because it happened on its own.
“As I say, it was just a few players wanting to have their say about the game and what we had in front of us.“
The players care
There have been more downs than ups this season – as was the case in the two previous campaigns.
That inevitably brings with it talk of players not caring as much as they should.
Gordon insisted, however, that commitment has never been a 2023/24 failing.
“The togetherness has always been there, this isn’t a bad, divided dressing-room,” he said.
“Everyone is pulling in the same direction.
“When a team is losing games it’s an easy thing to say that people don’t care and all that stuff.
“But that’s the furthest thing from the truth.
“Sometimes in football things don’t work out the way you want them to every week, but it’s not been through a lack of hard work.
“Sometimes there are mistakes, soft decisions going against you or injuries.
“You get testing times in football.
“If anyone looks in day in, day out the boys are putting their bodies through hell every day for the future of this club.
“That’s the minimum you have to do and something this club has always been big on.
“Everyone here is on the same page.
“This is massive for the club, the fans and us as players.
“You pride yourself on playing in the top league. You do it for the club, the fans and for the new owner when he comes in.
“But we’re doing it for ourselves and our futures. There is loads on the line on so many levels.
“It’s the biggest game of our season. It’s a cup final in a sense because we have to win it.
“I feel we’re ready for it.”
‘Weird form of confidence’
A loss is a loss – and Saints have suffered four of those in a row. But Gordon is convinced the team is ready to come good when it matters most.
“We feel there was an injustice done last weekend and we want to put it right,” he said. That’s the mindset.
“We played with intensity and quality last weekend, especially in the final third.
“We looked a real attacking threat and that hasn’t been the case too often this season.
“But in all my time as a St Johnstone player I don’t think I’ve been involved in a game where we’ve had so many chances.
“On another day we’d have had better luck in front of goal and the game would have been wrapped up by half-time.
“But as a group we have taken a lot from it – although we know we have to replicate it again against County.”
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