01 May 2021

Callum Davidson faces selection poser for St Johnstone’s Scottish Cup date

01 May 2021

St Johnstone manager Callum Davidson admits his players have given him a Scottish Cup selection headache after Glenn Middleton scored the only goal in the victory over Hibernian

Despite making seven changes to his line-up, Davidson’s team still managed to claim the spoils at Easter Road.

Middleton, one of the players recalled to the starting line-up, found the net after 22 minutes with a calm finish following an error from Hibs defender Ryan Porteous.

Elliot Parish, James Brown, Callum Booth, Craig Bryson, Michael O’Halloran and Chris Kane also returned to the side.

Davidson admits he now has some thinking to do ahead of next Sunday’s semi-final clash with St Mirren.

He said: “It shows the depth we have. I was pleased with the players I could put on and the players who came in were excellent and worked extremely hard.

“I probably did have a team in my head but people have now put question marks in that.

“That is good for me and makes it more difficult for me.

“Hopefully we will get through this week in training and everyone stays fit and healthy and we can look forward to Sunday.

“Over the last few weeks I’ve made a few changes with the aim of getting guys some game time. I am happy with any of the 18 players who I pick.”

Goalkeeper Zander Clark, the hero at both ends in the quarter-final win over Rangers, missed out against Hibs with a toe injury.

Davidson added: “I think he got himself involved in the celebrations (against Rangers) and someone stood on his big toe.

“Hopefully it’s not too bad. We will need to see how it settles down next week.”

Hibernian’s head coach Jack Ross, whose side take on Dundee United at Hampden in the other semi-final next Saturday, admits the performance was not good enough against Saints.

Ross said: “We didn’t play well. We didn’t do enough to win, but I don’t necessarily think we deserved to lose.

“I don’t think St Johnstone did much more than us, there wasn’t a lot created and it wasn’t a good game to watch.

“But we came out on the wrong side because of the defensive lapse, otherwise it would probably have been 0-0.”

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