St Johnstone’s route to the Scottish Cup final
Goalkeeper Zander Clark has played key roles at both ends and in a penalty shoot-out.
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Your support makes all the difference.St Johnstone and Hibernian face off in Saturday’s Scottish Cup final at Hampden.
Callum Davidson’s Betfred Cup winners are looking to lift a rare trophy double for a non-Old Firm side.
Here the PA news agency takes a look at the Perth side’s route to the final.
Third Round – Dundee 0 St Johnstone 1
Guy Melamed’s strike handed Saints victory in this Tayside Derby at Dens Park but the Perth side had goalkeeper Zander Clark to thank after he saved a late Charlie Adam penalty and denied the Dee the chance to take it to extra time.
Relieved boss Davidson said: “They have a Premiership squad in my opinion so I knew it was going to be a really tough game with the likes of Charlie Adam involved. He’s a top-class player and I thought he would score because I have watched him take penalties enough times. But it’s a fantastic save.”
Fourth Round – St Johnstone 2 Clyde 0
It was game over inside 21 minutes as goals from Guy Melamed and Michael O’Halloran put Saints in front, but Davidson was frustrated his team did not run up a bigger scoreline against Danny Lennon’s League One strugglers.
He said: “It’s a job well done. I thought in the first half we were very good. I actually really enjoyed the performance. For me, we probably should have scored a couple more goals to take the game away from Clyde.”
Quarter-final – Rangers 1 St Johnstone 1 (St Johnstone win 4-2 on pens)
James Tavernier thought he had snatched victory for Steven Gerrard’s Premiership champions with three minutes left of extra-time – but that was just the start of the drama as Saints keeper Clark raced forward for a corner to head the ball down for Chris Kane’s 122nd-minute equaliser before pulling off two saves in the shoot-out to send the jubilant McDiarmid men through.
Clark jokingly tried to claim the goal before adding: “Hopefully by winning the first cup we have given ourselves a chance to try and get to another final. It’s massive for everyone involved at the club.”
Semi-final – St Mirren 1 St Johnstone 2
Glenn Middleton produced a second-half star cameo to book Covid-hit Saints’ place in the final, first setting up Kane for the opener before sweeping home with a sublime free-kick to render Connor McCarthy’s late strike for the Buddies meaningless.
Davidson – who saw four players forced to self-isolate before the Hampden clash – said: “We’ve hardly trained this week. But the players’ attitude was tremendous. I’m just delighted for them. Glenn came on and produced the magic which you sometimes need to get to a final.”