‘Well boss Mark McGhee feels his side must be better this Saturday than in previous meetings with St Johnstone.
The Saints come in to Saturday’s match on the back of a goalless draw with Aberdeen and occupy fifth spot in the table.
The Fir Park boss, who will serve the final game of his ban after it was carried over from Tuesday, knows it will be a tough match for his side.
Speaking to the press this morning, he said: “St Johnstone are consistent, they finished fourth last year and they are up there again so we know that they are tough opposition.
“We’ve lost narrowly most times we’ve played them recently, but we’ve never really played well against them so clearly we’re going to have to play better than what we’ve played in the other games because they are the type of team that you do have to break down and you won’t just beat them by turning up.”
After Tuesday nights abandoned match against Aberdeen, McGhee admitted that the inconvenience of the round trip wasn’t a major problem for him and his side.
Speaking to the press this morning, the manager insisted unforeseen circumstances like floodlight failure can happen to any club.
[pullquote]St Johnstone are consistent, they finished fourth last year and they are up there again so we know that they are tough opposition.[/pullquote]
He said: “We got over the events midweek quickly, what can you do? I know that they had plans next week to completely renew the wiring so they just got caught out a bit and that can happen to anyone.
“We have no problem with that, we’ll go back and play them whenever the game is rescheduled.”
The match lasted a mere eight minutes before the decision was made to abandon play due to floodlight failures.
And McGhee joked: “I thought we started well on Tuesday, but the surprise to me was that when we looked at the stats Aberdeen had 92% possession which was disappointing.”
However, the unforeseen circumstances may act as a blessing in disguise for the Steelmen.
McGhee said: “We actually went in to the game with Scott McDonald, Chris Cadden and Stephen McManus all struggling a bit. Cadden especially who we gave a fitness test before we left and he wanted to play and said that he felt alright but we were a bit nervous about it.
“When we came back in to the dressing room Scotty said he was struggling so maybe that’s worked for us because maybe he would’ve struggled more late in the game or even before that.
“We’ve got to accentuate the positives so hopefully they’ve got a couple of days now to recover in order to be fit for the St Johnstone game.”
[pullquote] When I’m with Scotland I sit in the stand for the first half anyway and I report down to Gordon at half time or before if I need to, so I’m used to it and it’s not a big deal really.[/pullquote]
On his ban, the manager said: “When I’m with Scotland I sit in the stand for the first half anyway and I report down to Gordon at half time or before if I need to, so I’m used to it and it’s not a big deal really.”
With his absence in the dugout, assistant manager James McFadden has stepped up and McGhee believes he will have a future in the game as a manager one day.
He joked: “Well we’ve had two games and he’s only had two nil-nil draws, I think that says it all, he has to do better.
“But no Faddy’s young – there’s been a lot of talk about the lad at Hearts and I don’t think that you can be too young.
“I started in management at 34 when I was at Reading and Faddy’s 33, but he’s loving it and that’s the important thing.”
He added: “I think when he took the job he wasn’t sure exactly that it was what he wanted and I think in the short period he’s been in the position he’s certainly established that this is what he wants to do, so he’ll be a quick learner.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if he became a manager one day, he’s a confident lad, quietly confident, he talks with authority, he has convictions and he’s not wishy-washy about his beliefs and how the game should be played so it’s important that he has those convictions and a direction.”