Saints 'can pull off the great escape' or 'playing for their future in the Championship'?
We asked for your views on St Johnstone's 2-1 win against Ross County.Here's what some of you said:Ellie: One of the most stressful matches I have sat through as a Saints fan (especially the VAR check, one of a slim amount to go our way this season) but a well deserved win - Elliot Watt and Josh McPake were outstanding. Let's hope we can take this form through to the end of the season as our job is far from done.Jimmy: We had numerous chances to score, reason being we didn't. Could be 'match rustiness'? The chance County had, they took well and deserved it. We didn't let our heads down, we knew what we had to do. We did get lucky with the disallowed County goal. Defence frailties are still there, but I still have faith in the players we have. Hopefully, we can get a defender that's fit enough for the run in.Robin: It's always the hope that gets you! A good performance, but without someone taking these clear chances it is just prolonging the life support. It is not nice wanting Dundee to win a game, as we now need them to on Wednesday, but it's better that than being without hope.Linsey: Much better, but cant help feeling it's come too late, finally saw a bit of wing work by McPake which we are badly needing as a team. We need to actually start using all of the pitch and open up our game at home. All the players played for the badge for once, they can pull off the great escape and leave everyone else in this league scratching their heads and saying 'how on earth did those jammy farmers from Perth manage that one?'Dunc: Saints were up for the battle, but they were all mostly playing for their futures in the Championship. Not sure who should be retained, or want to go. We are gone, but if we recruit well we might not be down too long. That could though, be wishful thinking!
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BBC News
35 minutes ago
- BBC News
McTominay & Tierney out of friendly v Liechtenstein
International friendly: Liechtenstein v ScotlandVenue: Rheinpark Stadium, Vaduz Date: Monday, 9 June Kick-off: 17:00 BSTCoverage: Watch live on BBC Scotland and BBC Sport website & app, online text updates, listen on BBC Radio Scotland Scott McTominay and Kieran Tierney have not travelled with Scotland as they prepare to face Liechtenstein on Monday in a friendly midfielder McTominay, 28, picked up a knock in the defeat by Iceland on Friday and was replaced on 80 will also miss out on the second match of Scotland's double-header through injury, which is live on BBC Scotland from 16:30 coach Steve Clarke has already called up two goalkeepers - Ross Doohan and 18-year-old Callan McKenna - after injuries to Angus Gunn and Robby McCrorie against was replaced by 22-year-old Ipswich goalkeeper Cieran Slicker, who endured a tough debut in the 3-1 defeat by Iceland at ranked 205th in the world, are Scotland's final opponents before they open their World Cup qualifying campaign in September away to Denmark. How good are Liechtenstein? There are just five nations ranked below the microstate in the world rankings, including the US and British Virgin Islands and San Marino. And even the San Marinese have beaten Liechtenstein twice in the past have only won once in their last 48 matches - a 1-0 success over Hong Kong in a friendly last October - and have a squad mainly made up of home-based part-time players who perform in the lower reaches of the Swiss the Euro 2012 qualifiers, manager Craig Levein was made to sweat as a Stephen McManus header in the sixth minute of stoppage time at Hampden spared the Scots one of their most embarrassing ever results as they laboured to a 2-1 was not exactly a routine win 13 months later in the return in Vaduz, with Craig Mackail-Smith's solitary Scotland goal settling one has shades of the friendly with Gibraltar 12 months ago, which was another stodgy affair and it may be similar this time round at the end of a long season. Regardless of the outcome, Clarke will have much to ponder before the trip to Copenhagen to face top seeds Denmark in the early autumn when the real stuff begins again. Match stats Scotland have won both previous meetings with Liechtenstein, both in Euro 2012 qualification (2-1 home, 1-0 away).Liechtenstein have won one of their last 76 matches against nations inside the top 100 (D7 L68), beating Luxembourg 2-1 in an October 2020 have failed to win five of their last six against opponents ranked lower than them (D3 L2), having won 13 of their previous 15 (L2).Liechtenstein are winless in their last 26 home games (D4 L22) since a 2-0 victory over Gibraltar in September 2018. They've scored in just one of their last 15 matches at home (a 3-1 loss to San Marino in November last year).Scotland are looking to win three consecutive away games for the first time since November will be Clarke's 68th game in charge, which will see him move level with Jock Stein and behind only Craig Brown (71).
Daily Mail
44 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
The Preview: Clarke and his Scotland players must put on big-boy pants and embrace Liechtenstein friendly
If there was any lingering doubt as to the wisdom and success of the Nations League, these bleak end-of-season Scotland internationals have surely ended it. Who in their right minds wants to go back to those dark days when every other Scotland match seemed to be a sparsely-attended experiment that invariably ended in defeat? A traumatic flashback arrived in the shape of a 3-1 loss to Iceland on Friday night, the first of two friendlies scheduled to make up for the absence of a World Cup qualifier during this international break. Now Scotland's players and supporters must go to Liechtenstein, take a deep breath and pretend that they wouldn't rather be sunning themselves on a beach somewhere. Or, at least, contesting a competitive game – if not a World Cup qualifier (Scotland's four-team group doesn't start till September), then perhaps a Nations League tie that offers a better gauge of where they are at. One thing's for sure: these meaningless yawnfests bring out the worst in Scotland, who have somehow contrived to win only one of their last 10 friendlies. And that was against Gibraltar. Northern Ireland and Finland are among the teams Steve Clarke and his players have failed to beat during that sequence. They scarcely need to be reminded that adding Liechtenstein to the list is unthinkable. After all, here is a side who stand 205th in the FIFA rankings, 161 places below Scotland. The Nations League has enabled them to play more frequently against teams of similar stature, but still they have struggled to win games. In their last 47 internationals, they have produced just one victory – a 1-0 triumph at home to Hong Kong last October. Liechtenstein haven't won a competitive match in five years. They have already lost the first three of their World Cup qualifying campaign, against North Macedonia, Kazakhstan and Wales, who knocked three goals past them in Cardiff on Friday. Their next outing in Group J will be against Belgium in September. The temptation is to assume that nothing can be gained from so skewed a fixture. That Clarke and his bedraggled squad are on a hiding to nothing. That, in the circumstances, they would be better with no game at all than one that has the potential to inflict upon them even deeper humiliation. But there is, in these dog days of Clarke's six-year tenure, an opportunity of sorts. While anything other than a victory would make the pressure on him almost unbearable, a convincing win would take the edge off increasingly vehement calls for his dismissal and ensure that Scotland don't head into the World Cup qualifying campaign with their confidence completely shot. Most of us have reached the conclusion that Clarke has been in the job long enough. With four wins in 21 games, as well as an end-of-days feel about the team, he isn't anyone's idea of the perfect man to lead Scotland into their Group C opener against Denmark this autumn. But the reality is that he is unlikely to have his contract terminated before then. So we all, players included, might as well put on our big-boy pants and see what can be salvaged from Clarke's remaining months in the job. In the first instance, that means puffing out the chest and recognising that there is, against our better judgement, something to be gleaned from a bounce game in Liechtenstein two weeks after the season was supposed to have ended. Like recording the victory that would improve Scotland's record, at least on paper (two defeats in seven wouldn't be so bad). And blooding one or two newcomers. If Lennon Miller can't get his first Scotland start in a training exercise against Liechtenstein, when can he? It means resting the big guns such as Scott McTominay, Andy Robertson and John McGinn, whose seasons at the highest level have taken a mental and physical toll. And seeing if, for the first time in a year, a striker can score for Scotland. George Hirst got himself into good positions against Iceland and deserves another chance. More than anything, it means ditching the back five and reverting to the four-man defence that performed well enough in parts of the last Nations League campaign. In a game like this, there is no need for three centre-halves. Nor should there be any obligation to accommodate both Robertson and Kieran Tierney. So it makes sense to pick a flat back four, not least because it is the system that will suit winger Ben Doak, Scotland's brightest prospect, when he returns from injury. This last, grudging game of a grim international season is no more a big night than the Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz is one of the game's great amphitheatres. It's not the World Cup. It's not even the Nations League. But it's incumbent upon Clarke and the players he picks to get as much as they possibly can from it.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Scotland survive scare to beat Nepal in thriller
Cricket World Cup League 2: Scotland v Nepal, ForthillScotland 323-6 (50 overs): Berrington 102, Leask 96*; Singh Airee 2-37Nepal 321 (50 overs): Sharki 73, Kami 67; Jones 3-55Scotland won by two runsScorecard Scotland survived a major scare to beat Nepal in a thrilling Cricket World Cup League 2 match at won with one ball to spare when the sides met at the same ground on Monday before beating the Netherlands two days came close to a third straight win on Scottish soil, but fell two runs short in a chase of 323 in a game that swung back and forth throughout.A magnificent sixth one-day international hundred from Scotland captain Richie Berrington, along with an unbeaten 96 off just 62 deliveries from Michael Leask propelled the hosts to an imposing ultimately fell two runs short as debutant Mackenzie Jones took three wickets, while Leask and Safyaan Sharif claimed two apiece."I don't think I was ready for another close game like that," captain Richie Berrington said."Delighted to get over the line. Credit to Nepal for the way they fought back and it's great to see the guys hold their nerve."Mackenzie Jones took really important wickets and then Safyaan Sharif showed all his experience at the end."It's always nice to contribute to the team's efforts and Leasky took the pressure off me." After Berrington won the toss, opener Charlie Tear played well for his 68 after George Munsey and Brandon McMullen both fell victim to the new ball. His contribution, paired with his captain's fine effort, allowed Leask to attack in the final 10 overs. Scotland's number seven struck 12 fours and three sixes on his home ground in a brutal display of power side then started in fine fashion with the ball, reducing Nepal to 34-3, including a first international wicket for rebuilt through Bhim Sharki (73) and Aarif Sheikh (39), but when they were removed by Leask and Jones, respectively, Scotland appeared to be in total a partnership of 105 for the seventh wicket between Dipendra Singh Airee (56) and Sompal Kami (67) brought Nepal right back into the caught Singh Airee off Charlie Cassell's bowling and removed Kami himself as the ball followed the Essex seamer on his first Scotland needed seven to win off the final over - bowled by Safyaan Sharif - and Jones was called into action again, taking a towering catch at long-leg to remove the dangerous Karan left Nepal needing five off three balls, but Sharif held his nerve to bowl Lalit Rajbanshi and win the game for was the seamer's 258th wicket for Scotland, taking him level with Majid Haq as his country's all-time leading wicket-taker.
