Premier dreams

Apr 28 2009 by Gordon Bannerman, Perthshire Advertiser Tuesday

GARY Irvine admits it was a wrench to leave Celtic Park but now the prospect of savouring SPL football with St Johnstone is tantalisingly close.

Manager Derek McInnes would love to extend the athletic full-back’s stay at Perth and continue to nurture his talents.

And Irvine, a firm favourite with Saints fans, yesterday hinted that he’s ready to commit himself to a new contract once the championship is in the bag.

He’s figured in 81 successive games, starting every game this term bar the Partick match in August. But Irvine bows out for the season against Morton, after learning a ban sidelines him for the last day trip to Airdrie.

All roads make for McDiarmid Park on Saturday and St Johnstone will head back to the Premier League with a win over Morton. Results elsewhere won’t matter.

Irvine, who created Stevie Milne’s vital derby winner at the weekend to preserve the club’s four point advantage over sole remaining title rivals Partick Thistle, said: “We just want to get these massive games out of the way before looking at anything else.

“I’d a chat with the club a few weeks back but I’m happy to leave things as they are for now. I love being at St Johnstone though.

“This is what I left Celtic for. I moved to Saints to get games and apart from the first four when I joined them I think I’ve played every single competitive match. So I’ve had no regrets over the decision I made.

“I grew up a Celtic fan and wanted to play for them but the bottom line is that I wanted to be professional footballer. It was a step back to go forward. I’ve won a Challenge Cup with St Johnstone and now hopefully a promotion as well.”

Reflecting on the Dens winner, Irvine admitted he hadn’t deliberately picked-out Milne’s surge into the six-yard box.

He explained: “When a full-back like me gets into that sort of position it’s just a case of head down and hit the ball as hard as you can! That’s what I did and it was great when Savo popped up to tuck it away.

“I feel more at ease getting forward now. It’s a big part of our game because it’s hard for teams dealing with an extra body coming from the back.

“But the main thing as a defender is keeping clean sheets and it was great to do that at Dens. Our back five, including Alan Main, is really strong. There’s a great understanding between us and we seem to complement each other really well.

“No-one was hurting more over the defeat by Queen of the South than the players. You saw how we’d a real purpose and buzz about us at Dens.

And winning there has set us up now for another massive game against Morton.

“But we all know there’s still a lot of work to do. When we got into the dressing room on Saturday there wasn’t much celebrating done.

Almost immediately the focus switched to Morton and getting in the right frame of mind for that one.”

Manager Derek McInnes reported a clean bill of health after a fine weekend win, with keeper Main set to resume training later in the week after an early scare at Dens.

McInnes said: “We will rest Alan down for a couple of days but the physio has checked him out and he isn’t concerned. We always assumed Partick would take three points and felt we required two wins.

“That’s the first one and hopefully we can get the second on Saturday in front of our own fans.”

Ironically, Morton are managed by former Gretna manager Davie Irons, with a certain James Grady in their squad. Perth fans are looking for payback.

But McInnes just wants a win to secure the title. He said: “It’s all about getting the result we require. Like Dundee, Morton will be trying to stop a party. But we showed what we can do playing at the right tempo and the players deserve credit for the overall performance. Maybe a few people questioned them after Queen of the South and they answered in the right manner.”