Take away one May afternoon in the east end of Glasgow and you could make a strong case that this season is on course to be even better than last, according to St Johnstone striker Steven MacLean.
A win against Hamilton Accies this afternoon would all but guarantee top six football for Saints, and keep them on course for a higher league finish and points tally than in their Scottish Cup-winning year.
“Getting into the top six for a fourth year in a row would be a massive achievement for a club our size,” he pointed out.
“Obviously people are looking at it and thinking we’ve not had as good a season this time round.
“There won’t be a cup at the end of this one, but we’ve got more points and are higher in the league now than we were 12 months ago.
“Of course, you’d love to win a cup every season but in terms of the league you could say we’ve done better this year so far.
“The league table doesn’t lie, we’re sitting where we are on merit.
“If we win this weekend it would probably just about take us into the top six.
“That would take us to five points ahead of Hamilton with two to play.
“We’re not getting ahead of ourselves but if we can get into the top six, you never know, there’s a small chance we could catch Dundee United.
“Doing that would make it a very good season, but first we have to concentrate on making sure we’re in the top six.”
MacLean has previously been stood down for games on artificial pitches, given his knee troubles, and manager Tommy Wright will decide today whether to play the influential forward at New Douglas Park.
Whoever starts for Saints though, MacLean believes it will be a hard-fought encounter against a side that has already beaten them twice this season.
“Hamilton have been on a bad run but they will be thinking that the law of averages mean they will win a game sooner rather than later,” he pointed out.
“They are a good side and they’ve got the better of us.
“So we know if we don’t turn up then they’ll make it three out of three.”
Accies have toiled since boss Alex Neil departed for Norwich and took top scorer Tony Andreu with him.
And MacLean believes Hamilton are missing Neil on the park as well as off it.
He said: “They have lost their two strikers, Tony Andreu had scored a lot of goals and Mickael Antoine-Curier was also a big player for them.
“They have missed the pair of them in the second half of the season.
“And I also think they miss Alex Neil on the pitch as well.
“When the going got tough he used to play himself so he could add a bit of experience to them.
“I know Alex from doing my A-licence with him, he was a great manager for them but also a very good player.
“So I think they’ve missed him on both counts.
“I have heard Martin Canning is a good coach and I’m sure he’ll turn it around but hopefully not this weekend.”
There could be a familiar face in the opposition line-up today – Nigel Hasselbaink.
The Dutchman didn’t get as much action as he would have hoped for in the last few months of his time in Perth, but his contribution in the historic cup run – a solo goal against Raith Rovers in the quarter-final – will never be forgotten.
“His last day for us was the cup final and he’d found it hard to get into the team at that stage of the season,” MacLean recalled.
“But he played a big part in things, he scored a great goal against Raith in an earlier round.
“We were 1-1 when he did that and the rest was history, so he played a big role in what happened last season.
“The day after the final was the last time I saw him although I can’t remember much about it!
“It will be good to see him again and the rest of the lads will be the same but we’ll have to keep him quiet.
“It seems to have been a difficult time for him in Greece but that’s football.
“Sometimes when you move abroad it doesn’t work out.
“We know his qualities, he’s a good player and when he was here some days in training he was unplayable.
“Nigel’s just a small lad but he’s a strong wee man and with that low centre of gravity he can get you pinned and spin you.
“He’ll be desperate to do well against us because that’s what all former players want to do.
“Nigel will love the chance to come up against us.”