THE bar continues to rise year after year for St Johnstone. A new league campaign opens for them against Hearts at Tynecastle tomorrow and nobody will be taking them lightly. Their European campaigns have tended to be as brief as a Donald Trump course in diplomacy but their consistency in qualifying each season can only be admired: sixth, third, sixth and Scottish Cup winners, and fourth is their league record over the past four seasons, enough to deliver Europa League football on an annual basis. Any speculation over who may struggle at the foot of the Ladbrokes Premiership this season won’t feature St Johnstone in the discussion.
Despite it all, there is a feeling that the Perth club don’t get the credit they deserve. That has not gone unnoticed within the dressing room either but the players seem to prefer it that way.
“We are never in the papers or the media saying we are going to do this or that,” said Chris Millar, as he helped promote BT Sport’s live coverage of tomorrow’s game.
"We always say that we are aiming for the top six or a cup run and we take it week by week. You assess things every quarter.We have just looked to achieve top six every season.
"We liked to duck under the radar and the secret is out there a bit now. We know what we are - we are hard to beat although we don't score a lot of goals but the manager has brought in the likes of John Sutton and Chris Kane to address that.
"We know we are not the most fashionable team but we are effective. We thrive on being overlooked and the likes of Aberdeen, Dundee United and Hearts are in the spotlight more than St Johnstone. It has always been like that and we can sometimes go unnoticed but that helps us build momentum towards the end of the season.
"When the places are being finalised that's when you want to hit top form. We like flying under the radar and if teams, players and the media keep missing us then all the better.”
- Watch Hearts vs St Johnstone live on BT Sport 1 from 12pm tomorrow. Visit btsport.com.
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