St Johnstone boss Simo Valakari admitted that predicting the Perth club’s fortunes were about to take a turn for the better sounded “crazy”.
But despite the fact their league winless run reached nine after a 3-1 defeat to Rangers, the McDiarmid Park boss believes the arrival of two signings and a break from the grind of a relegation battle will help their situation improve.
“I want to move very quickly from here,” said Valakari, whose team face Motherwell in the Scottish Cup on Saturday.
“You can call me crazy, but I know this club and this team, and I can feel it.
“It’s starting to turn. There is no better time than the cup this week.
“For seven days we don’t need to think about the catastrophic position in the league. Now it’s the cup and it doesn’t matter how badly we have played in the league or what has happened.
“We can be light. We don’t have to think about this misery we have in the league.
“After the cup we can get back to fixing this.
“The pressure of the league situation isn’t on us.
“But even though it is good timing for the cup, we still need to work at our football – whether it’s league or cup we can’t make the same mistakes.”
Saints conceded three goals in 10 first half minutes at Ibrox before Jack Sanders scored a consolation early in the second 45.
The gap to 11th is now nine points but Valakari insisted staying up isn’t a lost cause.
“Of course,” said the Finn.
“The fact is there are still plenty of games to play.
“But the fact is also that we need wins because we will run out of opportunities.
“We have been broken in the last few weeks – for many, many reasons.
“But now I feel it that things might come together.
“Will it be too late? Who knows. But I feel it.
“Andy Fisher has come in and he showed his qualities.
“It will be the same with Victor (Griffith). That’s why I feel it.
“He will have an impact for us as well.
“He’s a box to box powerhouse with good football intelligence. He can play as a six, eight or higher.
“He’ll run for the team and fight for the team. That’s what we need just now.”
Mistakes punished again
On the individual mistakes that cost Saints dearly again, Valakari said: “It’s impossible to win matches in any league – especially this one – when you make these mistakes.
“In our situation, it feels like every mistake we make gets punished.
“When you are a little bit stuck in your head, you start making poor decisions and your execution is not as good.
“It’s like a snowball effect.”
He was called upon to make a save low to his left on 14 minutes but couldn’t do anything to prevent Rangers from taking the lead moments later.
Mohamed Diomande got in behind the Saints defence and cut the ball back for Hamza Igamane, who was presented with the simplest of finishes.
Vaclav Cerny didn’t exactly have the trickiest of tasks to score the hosts’ second on 21 minutes either.
Saints were opened up all too easily through the middle and the Czech forward cased in on the golden opportunity of a one v one against Fisher.
A woeful 10 minutes of defending peaked with Sanders attempting to head the ball clear and only succeeding in providing a perfectly weighted assist for Diomande it make it 3-0.
Second half improvement
Valakari made two half-time substitutions.
Off went Aaron Essel and Nicky Clark. On came Taylor Steven, back from a loan with Cliftonville, and Barry Douglas, back from a calf injury.
The second half started brightly, with a deflected Makenzie Kirk shot nearly finding the net.
It earned Saints a corner and from Max Kucheriavyi’s in-swinger, Sanders scored a goal with a close-range header.
Fisher made a magnificent save on 66 minutes to keep out a fierce Oscar Cortes shot on the angle. Not only that, he made sure he pushed the ball away from goal to deny Rangers a rebound tap-in.
Fran Franczak was the next man to perform defensive heroics – throwing himself into a last-ditch tackle after the ball had gone under Sanders’ boot.
At the other end, Graham Carey tested Liam Kelly at his near post with a low shot that the keeper did well to save and hold, and Josh McPake couldn’t find the target with a speculative 25-yarder.
Scoreline respectability was ensured but another defeat was added to a run of results that is taking Saints ever closer to the Championship.
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