St Johnstone have a big task on their hands to make the post-split stage of the Premiership season meaningful.
And if the Perth side are to put pressure on Dundee and/or Kilmarnock in the battle to stay in the top-flight, they’ll need to buck a trend that has held them back.
Under Craig Levein and Simo Valakari, Saints have yet to beat one of the teams currently in the top half of the table.
The challenge is changing that in the run of three games before the split, with Hibs, Celtic and Dundee United their remaining opponents.
“One of the reasons we are where we are is because we haven’t been able to collect many points against the so-called big teams,” Valakari admitted.
“In this league, to be successful you need to win some of those matches as well.
“There isn’t such a big gap between us and some of those clubs, but we have had too many moments of sleepiness and lack of concentration.
“When that happens against top six teams, they punish you.
“We have seen that – most recently against Hearts.
“You need to be at a good level for 90 minutes.
“It’s not annoying that other teams have got results against them – there’s nothing I can do about that.
“But it has contributed to the position we are in.
“We have to be brutally honest with ourselves – we have not been good enough for a full game to do it.”
Aberdeen template
Touching distance has different meaning for different people.
But a winless run over the next few weekends would stretch the description to breaking point by anybody’s definition as far as Saints and second bottom of the table is concerned.
“We know we need to get points from these last three matches before the split and stay in touching distance if we want to survive,” said Valakari.
“Aberdeen was a good step. We were at a high level for the whole game.
“They are one of the top teams in the league and we went toe to toe with them.
“It was a very tactical game, and we defended very well when they got their small moments.
“Attacking-wise we had one, maybe one and a half. To win, we needed to take it.
“That’s the next step.
“You could feel that we were Aberdeen’s equal.
“It wasn’t like we were being dominated, and our only hope was a lucky break.
“The Aberdeen manager recognised that.
“He is going for third and it would have been easy for him after the game to just say: ‘We didn’t play well’.
“He understood it was a level game and gave us full respect.
“I know we are a good team.
“Hopefully, we will take our chances when we get them next time.”
Calm heads
Falling five points behind Dundee last weekend didn’t alter Valakari’s mindset.
“It’s important to keep a calm head just now,” he said.
“For months, that’s what we have been working towards.
“Last weekend we only got one point, and our direct opponent (Dundee) got three.
“The gap is a little bit bigger but that doesn’t change our focus.
“I am confident we will win games.
“There may be times when our direct opponents win as well but I still believe it will go to the wire.”
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