Kilmarnock v St Johnstone

[deadasdillinger]

You just never know with this Killie side but if we can turn up and put on one of our good home performances, 3 points on Saturday would be absolutely massive. Keeps us out the relegation spots and draws the Saints in.

Killie fans are slightly more optimistic after Saturday's win, while remembering that dreadful Motherwell performance was only the match before. How are Saints fans feeling?

[Trackdaybob]

5 minutes ago, deadasdillinger said:

How are Saints fans feeling?

Frightened 

[mizfit]

I’m looking up pubs in the south side of Glasgow, that’s how it’s going. 

[Honest Saints Fan]

Meh.

We are getting pumped in this

[tree house tam]

Let's just call this a draw and move on.

[Radford]

Our performances against Hibs and United were probably a bit better but still with warning signs. It was 45 minutes against 10 men in the first and we never really hammered home any sort of dominancy and when it ended up with the same man-advantage in the second, we still ended up retreated into a shell and were the width of the woodwork away from dropping points.

Saturday really exposed the frailties again though. We had a huge grip on the game in the first half but couldn't create anything then - just as in the dregs of Davidson's reign - were beaten when we went behind. The in-game reaction from Steven MacLean after the opener was also very alarming ahead of these final games. Throwing shape and structure out the window to accommodate Bair and Rudden certainly isn't the route to safety.

Wasn't surprised he went same again (bar the injured Hallberg) on Saturday past but we are probably now back in the boat of contemplating changes.

Those big Killie centre backs will swallow up Stevie May if he's isolated and tries to go up against them. He if starts dropping off then do we have the players to get into proper attacking areas? 

Definitely not optimistic unfortunately. We've been second best by a distance in both trips to Rugby Park previously.

Obviously a risk it might not be enough but would absolutely devour your hand for a couple of draws from the next two games.

[perthsaint1977]

Killie win. 2/3 nil. Cannot see us laying a glove on them. 

[RandomGuy.]

We've 3 games left and just need to win 1, IMO.

This is the hardest of the 3, with all our eggs likely to be lumped on the final.day game v Livi, so im fine with just seeing what happens and lumping all the expectation onto Kilmarnock. We're shit but so are they or they wouldnt be down here, so just take your chance they wont break you down and try and snatch something on the counter.

MacLean seems to have the naivety of a rookie manager though so we'll probably go bollocks out (as much as we can) and be a couple down by half time.

[Bad Wolf]

This ought to be the least meh meh derby for a while. Which probably ensures a 0-0.

[Radford]

Mark Roberts to open.the scoring, Gary Bollan to equalise.

[Nadroj]

We are shite, but I think we might win this. 
 

Saying that though, we are equally capable of fucking it up royally. I’ll go for a 2-1 win. 

[funky monkey]

I'm confident for a home win in this one.

[Andy_K_97]

I really don't know how this one will go, and I'm getting more tetchy about it as the days go on. Yes, our home form is still good - but if we're as insipid as we were in the first half against Livi and Saints start like they did against Motherwell we might be in a spot of bother. I'd like to see us start the same 11 again and ditch the tombola - and I'd like to think that if we can get a win in this game we won't finish bottom. I reckon two more wins will keep us safe, but given the weird nature of the bottom six this season you can't be certain of anything at all.

[tree house tam]

Saints win, this is a different animal.

[Jamie_B]

Someone better at working this out than me can maybe tell me, but if we win this one is there much, if any, path to us still finishing bottom two? Particularly with reference to the fact that Killie’s remaining games are against United and County?

A win puts us on 39, Killie would remain on 34 with two to play. County would be six behind on 33 with three games remaining (including Saturday’s) and United would be eight behind with three to play.

Even if we lost the last two United would need three wins to get past us. Killie would need two wins, County would need to win one of their other two games aside from our head to head next midweek.

United and Killie can’t both get what they need, so 12th would be out of the question for us. For Killie to get by us in this situation they’d have to beat County.

This a long way of saying we need a huge performance on Saturday. If we win at Killie and County don’t win at Fir Park it’s over.

[nelsjfc]

14 hours ago, Jamie_Beatson said:

Someone better at working this out than me can maybe tell me, but if we win this one is there much, if any, path to us still finishing bottom two? Particularly with reference to the fact that Killie’s remaining games are against United and County?

A win puts us on 39, Killie would remain on 34 with two to play. County would be six behind on 33 with three games remaining (including Saturday’s) and United would be eight behind with three to play.

Even if we lost the last two United would need three wins to get past us. Killie would need two wins, County would need to win one of their other two games aside from our head to head next midweek.

United and Killie can’t both get what they need, so 12th would be out of the question for us. For Killie to get by us in this situation they’d have to beat County.

This a long way of saying we need a huge performance on Saturday. If we win at Killie and County don’t win at Fir Park it’s over.

If we win, we are guaranteed not to finish bottom regardless of County's and United's results. If we win and County and United lose, we will guaranteed safety due to Killie and County having to meet. 

 

Edit to add - A win coupled with anything but a Ross County win would also see us guaranteed to be in the division next season.

 

 

Edited May 18, 2023 by nelsjfc

[PSJ.84]

Managed to get an early finish at work so ticket purchased, will probably miss the first 5 minutes or so but oh well. Not looking forward to this one. 

[Radford]

48 minutes ago, PSJ.84 said:

Managed to get an early finish at work so ticket purchased, will probably miss the first 5 minutes or so but oh well. Not looking forward to this one. 

Should ask @RandomGuy. for a lift. He's probably not leaving until 2:30pm. Will be sat behind the goal with his pie at 2:59pm.

[Radford]

The passion of the Meh Derby beautifully captured by Ian Crocker here. Can hardly contain himself at, first, a late equaliser then, would you believe it, an injury time winner.

The voice of Scottish football.

Edited May 18, 2023 by Radford

[Shipa]

On 16/05/2023 at 09:23, RandomGuy. said:

We've 3 games left and just need to win 1, IMO.

This is the hardest of the 3, with all our eggs likely to be lumped on the final.day game v Livi, so im fine with just seeing what happens and lumping all the expectation onto Kilmarnock. We're shit but so are they or they wouldnt be down here, so just take your chance they wont break you down and try and snatch something on the counter.

MacLean seems to have the naivety of a rookie manager though so we'll probably go bollocks out (as much as we can) and be a couple down by half time.

The worry for me is that while one win should, hopefully, be enough, and that this might be, on paper, the toughest of the three remaining games, the longer we wait to get that win, the more the pressure grows, the less likely it feels we will get it.

I'm not so sure about seeing what happens on Saturday; if we lose this, that pressure will intensify, and I think we will struggle, a draw gives us maybe breathing space, and builds confidence, a win...