Saints bid to be record breakers

By Stevie Miller
BBC Scotland's resident Saints fanatic

Dedication's what you need to be a Record Breaker, or so the late Roy Castle said, and plenty of that particular quality will be required in Perth at the weekend.

St Johnstone, my team, go into Saturday's match looking to set a new club record of 20 league matches without defeat.

Derek McInnes has led St Johnstone to the brink of a club record

August was the last time the Saints tasted league defeat; a 3-2 reverse at the hands of Clyde. Since then, only a Scottish Cup defeat by Rangers has blotted the McDiarmid Park copybook.

And just to add spice to the occasion, the match only happens to be against our great rivals from down the Tay - Dundee!

Everything set for a day of celebration in sunny Perth then.

The only problem is, the form book strongly suggests Saints' phenomenal run will come to an abrupt end.

Despite remaining unbeaten, Saints have managed only one win since the turn of the year - and that was an ugly 1-0 victory over Livingston.

Our pals from down river have, on the other hand, transformed their season under manager Jocky Scott.

The Dark Blues have won their last three matches on the bounce, and thumped Livi 4-1 in their last game.

And Saints have recently developed a bit of a tradition of being the nearly men of the Scottish game.

Despite being almost perennially the bookies favourites for promotion, Saints are now in their seventh consecutive season in the First Division.

Perth's finest have also contested three major semi-finals in the past three seasons - and not made a final.

MY SPORT: DEBATE Can St Johnstone extend their unbeaten run?

Add to that the nightmare-inducing finale of the 2006-07 season, when Gretna pipped us to promotion courtesy of a James Grady goal five minutes into injury time of the last game of the season.

"Unbelievable!" said Saints legend Allan Preston, commentating on the Gretna match for BBC Radio Scotland's Sportsound.

That wasn't exactly the way I described it.

I've still not come out of therapy after that one.

Given all that, you can see why many in the Perth faithful are approaching the big match more in hope than expectation.

Looking forward to the match, I'd love to dream of a victory to equal the 7-2 New Year win in 1997, but, given current form, I'll happily settle for a more modest return.

My prediction?

Saints to continue stuttering towards the title courtesy of a dreary 1-1 draw, and I'll be more than happy with that.