St Johnstone boss Simo Valakari is planning a spying mission in Livingston after landing a last eight Scottish Cup against the Lions.
Saints’ 1-0 win over Hamilton Accies saw them book their place in the quarter finals of the tournament.
They saw off the Championship strugglers in relative comfort, despite the narrowness of the score-line.
Their reward is a tie against David Martindale’s second tier title-chasers.
And Valakari, who has had no cause to see Livi in action this season, will look to do his homework before taking his Perth side to West Lothian.
“There are no easy draws when you get to this stage of the Scottish Cup,” said the Saints boss.
“We are happy with the draw but I would imagine Livingston are too.
“They will be looking at it saying they are doing well in their league and are playing the team who are bottom of theirs.
“So there is something for both teams in it.
“We know it will be difficult, they are getting good results and were in the Premiership last season so they have a lot of experience.
“I will go to one of their games in the next couple of weeks before we play them so I can see them in person.
“For us, it’s good to have something to look forward to and that positivity of still being in the cup there.
“The competition has been good for us, the Motherwell game in the first round we played gave us the chance of a fresh start.
“We were in bad form in the league but it allowed us to focus on something else, so it has helped us.”
A late goal from Adama Sidibeh was required to help Saints past Accies.
Nevertheless, Valakari was content with the pattern of the game as a whole – and insisted that he can see can see the level of control exerted by his team rising all the time.
“I said after the Rangers game I felt things were turning, we’d lost 3-0 and everyone was hammering us,” he explained.
“But I could feel it in the team that after what we’d been through in December, a lot of challenges, things would start getting better.
“But it has only been a start, we have a long, long way to go in this.
“It has been four good games but there are a lot more challenges to come in the next few months.
“In this league it is about the small margins a lot of the time, things you could describe as ‘winning actions’.
“Those might be a big save from the goalkeeper, winning the ball in the middle of the park to make a transition, defending a corner properly.
“When you have more and more of those winning actions and have more control of football matches, good things start to happen to you.
“That allows you to score important late goals like the one we did against Hamilton.
“I have felt happier in the last few games that we’ve had more control and when you do that, it gives you a better chance of getting results.”
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