St Johnstone V Partick at McDiarmid Park : Match Preview

01 March 2016 18:34
St Johnstone V Partick - view commentary, squad, and statistics of the game live.


St Johnstone midfielder Simon Lappin: Points precious at this point in season

St Johnstone midfielder Simon Lappin admits every point is precious at this stage of the season.

So the 33-year-old was delighted to secure a share of the weekend spoils against Aberdeen courtesy of Liam Craig's late penalty.

But now the target is three points from Wednesday night's home clash with a Partick Thistle side who beat Saints 2-0 last week.

The Perth side have only won one of their last 12 matches in all competitions but they are well-placed for another top-six finish.

Lappin said: "With our recent form and Aberdeen chasing the title we will take that point, especially as we can do a lot better than our second-half performance.

"In a league as close as this one we were happy with a point. You don't know just how important it will prove to be come the end of the season. And it could turn out to be a big point in a few weeks when we get to the split.

"We went back up to fourth and that just shows you how tight it is this season. Anybody on their day can beat anybody else. Results have shown that.

"People were going on about our bad run but that happens. You can have a bad spell but we had a good win over Motherwell last week.

"It was disappointing to lose to Thistle last Tuesday but we bounced back with another good point in Aberdeen.

"Now we are looking for the consistency we had before Christmas. We feel we are perfectly capable of getting back to that."

Saints have finished in the top half of the table for four years running and Lappin hopes the knowledge gained during that spell can help his team.

"Within any dressing room experience is important," the former Cardiff and Norwich player said. "We have a good mix of experience and youth here.

"The ones who have been over the course before take on a bit more responsibility and help the younger ones through it. That is the way football works.

"It transpires that we are playing Partick twice within eight days.

"But we will just approach it the same way we did going to Aberdeen and the way we will go into every game between now and the end of the season, trying to put points on the board."

Partick boss Alan Archibald expects the Saints to be seeking swift retribution at McDiarmid Park after last Tuesday's win thanks to goals from substitutes Kris Doolan and David Amoo.

Archibald is looking for Thistle to get back on track after dropping to ninth place in the table with a 3-1 defeat at Motherwell on Saturday but he knows Saints will be especially motivated, although he believes neither side will have any surprises to spring.

He said: "St Johnstone will be out looking for revenge, so to speak, they will want to turn us over after us doing it to them in our back yard.

"It will be a tough game. It is always difficult when you have played a team so recently and there's wasn't a lot in it, albeit it was 2-0. It was a very close game up to the 70-minute mark.

"It is very difficult (to surprise). We all know each other, we all play each other four times a season and it makes it even harder when there is such a short space of time between games.

"We need to look to win our individual battles, we didn't do that on Saturday against Motherwell, we lost most of them so we need to get back to basics."

Winger Steven Lawless wants to secure Thistle's top-flight status before he decides on his future.

The 24-year-old's contract is up at the end of the season and he has rejected a new deal with Dundee United among reported suitors.

Lawless said: "This is a familiar situation for me, I quite like the one-year deals. Most seasons I am out of contract.

"It has not really affected me over the last couple of years so I don't think it will this year.

"Nothing is set in stone. I have offers there but I haven't signed anything yet.

"It is good to have options, that takes a little bit of pressure off you when you are trying to perform but it will take nothing away from the performances for Thistle.

"Once I have safety for the team that's when I can start worrying about next season.

"We need to bounce back and three points against St Johnstone will be a big three points."


Source: PAR