St Johnstone forward Gregory Tade just became a father two weeks ago, although he reckons the Hibs defenders should have been the ones having trouble sleeping last night.
The Frenchman will come up against the Edinburgh side’s back line at Easter Road this evening loving life and is determined to help fire Saints into the SPL’s top four.
On the pitch, Tade’s goal in the 3-1 win over Aberdeen last time out was his first league strike since the end of September, while off the field Tade’s partner Lindsay recently gave birth to daughter Amari.
So with things looking up both personally and professionally, the 26-year-old believes he is in the perfect frame of mind to shoot Saints up the table.
“I’m delighted with my new baby girl and you feel different,” he said. “You are still the same person but you have someone else to care for and when you go home you are happy.
“It’s a new thing for me. She’s clueless really but as soon as she hears her dad’s voice and she sees me she lights up a bit so it puts things into perspective.”
Tade was delighted to end his barren goal scoring spell against Aberdeen last month and admits he is glad manager Steve Lomas kept the faith with him.
He added: “It was important for me to get a goal a couple of weeks ago, because it had been a wee while since scoring in the league. It helps your confidence and makes you believe that you still have it, that you can still do it.
“I knew I was always going to score goals so now it’s going to be a case of scoring more, and scoring as many as I can.”
Saints’ inability to convert chances cost them dearly against St Mirren in the Scottish Cup last week but Tade now hopes the Perth club can focus on their league form.
“The cup is always a bonus so obviously it was a disappointing weekend because we got beat,” he commented.
“It happens some years you have a good year, some others you don’t.
“This year is just a year where we need to forget about the cup and focus on the league, which is the first objective of the club. It’s been the same old story.”
csmith@thecourier.co.uk