Tommy Wright has described tomorrow night’s clash with Hamilton Accies as “the most important game of our season”.
With seventh-placed Hibs playing Celtic at Parkhead, there is a strong chance that a win for Saints in Lanarkshire would open up an eight-point gap on the Easter Road club, with the mid-season split starting to focus minds.
“Everybody is fine and I have no injury concerns for Wednesday,” said Wright.
“We’ll get recovered and prepare for what I think is the most important game of our season.
“A win can take us to 40 points after 25 games which would be an excellent return. It would get us three points closer to where we want to be.
“It doesn’t matter who we are playing, at this stage of the season every game is important.
“We see it as a chance to keep in touch with the ones above us and try open up a gap on the ones below.
“If you get a win and increase your gap, it’s one game less for them to catch up. We’re also all playing each other.
“We need to make sure we at least keep the five point cushion.”
Saints may not have taken any points from their back-to-back league games against Celtic, but they have emerged relatively unscathed.
“I don’t think they have anything to be ashamed of or let affect their confidence after the performances,” said Wright.
“We asked for an improvement from Wednesday night and we got it. We created two clear-cut chances and on another day we score.
“Ultimately we made an error which was punished. Celtic took full advantage of that.
“Those two games are over and they were always going to be difficult. There are no surprises that Celtic have won both of them.
“We can’t let two back to back defeats against the best team in the country affect the rest of our season.
“The good thing is that it was only really Motherwell who gained on us.
“Hopefully our good record can continue at Hamilton.
“I know they are trying for a more expansive, free-flowing game and we’ll need to wait and see if that will be the case.
“They have players who work hard for each other and they have a good team spirit.
“We’ve beaten them three times already this season so hopefully we can make it four. It’s a big game for both teams.”