St Johnstone

Sam Miller
Fan writer

Lapses in defence were once again the team's downfall last weekend.

It has been the most common of tales for the sorry Saints this season. You can't concede the types of goals we did against Motherwell and expect to compete at the higher end of the league.

We are in the position we are in based purely on the softest of goals conceded every week.

It's a huge game and one last throw of the dice on Saturday against Kilmarnock. Many things will have to go our way if we are to claw ourselves out of this mess.

If we are unable to get the job done then the reset button needs hit for the Championship campaign and Simo Valakari has to remain at the helm.

A conveyor belt of manager sackings is not in the Saints blueprint and faith needs to be shown in the Finn.

This is a thought for another day - all focus must on be putting Killie to the sword and trying to get us to safety.

Sam Miller can be found at Dogger Saints, external

Watch as the Sportscene team analyse St Johnstone's chances of survival following their defeat by Motherwell on Saturday.

Watch the Sportscene panel analyse St Johnstone's disastrous defending in their 3-2 defeat by Motherwell.

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Goalkeeper Nathaniel Nwosu, who won a Nigeria cap in November 2022 but currently plays for Tayport in the Midlands League, is to join Aberdeen on trial this week having spent last week with St Johnstone and with Stoke City, St Mirren, Dunfermline Athletic and Dumbarton all monitoring the 19-year-old. (The Herald), external

Read Monday's Scottish Gossip in full.

Watch highlights as Motherwell dent St Johnstone's survival bid.

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We asked for your views on St Johnstone's 3-2 defeat against Motherwell.

Here's what some of you said:

Paul: That's the season in a nutshell. Played well then dropped their level for a short time and get punished. Defensively, especially down our right-hand side, we were very poor.

Les: Simo Valakari talks well but the performances are just nowhere near good enough. We would probably need to win all four now and that just isn't going to happen. Our chairman has a huge decision to make irrespective of what happens now. Is Simo the man to take us forward? I'm not sure at all on this one.

Jimmy: Our defensive issues have caused us points. Personally speaking, I don't think the team are playing that badly, just that things haven't gone our way this season. There are still enough points to win in the upcoming games that should see us climb off the bottom. Some fans are criticising the players for not putting enough effort in and head coach for his team selection, but I think they know what's needed and he's doing a decent job.

Image source, SNS

• Motherwell have won after conceding the opening goal in the Premiership for the first time since 28 September 2024 against St Mirren (13 games without a win).

• St Johnstone have lost after scoring the opening goal in the Premiership for the first time since 26 December 2024 against Dundee United (five games without defeat).

• Motherwell attempted 360 passes in this match, higher than their season average of 310.1 in the Premiership.

• St Johnstone have lost 20 points from winning positions in the Premiership this season, only Dundee (23) have lost more.

St Johnstone fans, what did you make of that one? Let us know your thoughts here.

Image source, SNS

St Johnstone head coach Simo Valakari: "It was a tough afternoon. It's difficult to win the match when you concede three goals.

"It's hard to criticise my players though, they put in everything.

"There was a lot of good performances. Yes, the result was not what we were hoping but next home match we don't have any other choice than to win.

"When you change your backline you lose the connection between the players.

"The only medicine for this is to win the next game.

"We need some other results to go our way now too. At the same time, we can only do what we can do and we need to start winning football matches.

"The boys want to do well but unfortunately we get no points. That's how football works when you are bottom of the league."

Calum MacDonald
BBC Sport Scotland

Image source, SNS

At one point in the afternoon St Johnstone were just two points behind Dundee in the live table, but the turnaround at Fir Park coupled with results elsewhere means Simo Valakari's side are now six points behind second bottom Ross County.

Today's game was the season in microcosm for the Perth Saints, they were playing some nice stuff, ahead and looking comfortable after 35 minutes, but much like last weekend the 10 minutes before the break proved crucial, they came back into the match in the last 20 minutes but were unable to fashion an equaliser.

Escaping relegation isn't yet impossible, but it looks increasingly unlikely.

Forward Adama Sidibeh, 26, wants to be St Johnstone's survival hero again. (Courier - subscription required), external

Read Saturday's Scottish gossip

Image source, SNS

Motherwell have Steve Seddon back in contention, but Kofi Balmer (hamstring) joins fellow centre-backs Shane Blaney (knee), Paul McGinn (thigh) and Liam Gordon (concussion) on the sidelines.

Apostolos Stamatelopoulos (wrist), Sam Nicholson (knee), Jack Vale, Zach Robinson (both Achilles), Ross Callachan (hamstring) and Archie Mair (hand) remain sidelined.

St Johnstone could hand Uche Ikpeazu a league debut while Zach Mitchell (hamstring), Drey Wright (ankle) and long-term absentees Bozo Mikulic (knee) and Sam McClelland (Achilles) remain out.

Image source, SNS

Simo Valakari has urged his St Johnstone players to "enjoy" the pressure of the club's fight for Premiership survival.

Saints, five points adrift at the bottom, begin their post-split schedule with a trip to face Motherwell on Saturday.

"Some people make estimations and calculations on how many points you need, but we don't do these types of targets," boss Valakari said.

"We need to go and perform. When we perform, we are likely to get a result. There will be twists and turns in these five games. I have said it many times, you need to enjoy these moments.

"Yes, the pressure is there, and you could call it negative pressure because we are playing to not get relegated. But you need to enjoy the pressure.

"We need to focus on our own. We can't control what happens in other games. Let's take care of our performance, then we can see what is happening."

Striker Adama Sidibeh insists Saints must "stick together" if they are to stand any chance of staying up.

"We're going to try and give everything that we can for the last five games, we have to try and stick together and fight," he said.

"These last five games, every game is a final because the gap is not big. We're confident, we have to try and do what we can and get the three points."

Clive Lindsay
BBC Sport Scotland

Image source, SNS

Whether or not Uche Ikpeazu proves to be St Johnstone's saviour, they certainly need one.

Having been swept aside 5-0 by Scottish Cup holders Celtic in Sunday's semi-final, it is back to the task of trying to retain their Premiership status against the odds as they visit eighth-placed Motherwell.

Five points behind Dundee at the foot of the table with five games remaining, time is running out for Simo Valakari's side.

The Finn has to find a spark from somewhere and the long-awaited return of Ikpeazu from injury might just be it.

A 15-minute cameo at Hampden marked the striker's Saints debut, 11 months and five knee operations since he signed after leaving Port Vale.

Now the London-born 30-year-old will hope to make a similar impact in Perth as he did in his first stint in the Scottish top flight with Hearts.

He initially became a bit of a folk hero, and wild speculation even linked him with Celtic and Rangers, but he would head off to Wycombe Wanderers in summer 2020 after losing his place at Tynecastle.

Ikpeazu has never been a regular scorer and has found the net just nine times for five clubs in the four years before his return to Scotland.

However, he has an imposing presence, can bring others into the game and could prove an effective partner for veteran Nick Clark, who has scored three goals and provided two assists in his past seven league appearances against Motherwell, despite only starting five of them.

Indeed, Clark has scored in both of his past two Premiership games at Fir Park.

Read the rest of this weekend's Premiership picks.

Image source, SNS

• Motherwell won their first home league game against St Johnstone this season 2-1 in November, but haven't beaten the Perth side twice on home soil within a single league campaign since 2013-14.

• After their 2-1 win in January, St Johnstone could win back-to-back league meetings with Motherwell for the first time since August 2022, and first time within a single season since May 2016.

• Since the start of 2025, no side has picked up fewer points in the Scottish Premiership than Motherwell (12, level with Dundee).

• St Johnstone have won just one of their past 11 away league outings (D2 L8), a 1-0 victory at St Mirren in February.

• St Johnstone's Nicky Clark has been directly involved in five goals in his past seven league appearances against Motherwell (three goals, two assists), despite only starting five of those seven games. Clark has scored in both of his past two Scottish Premiership games at Fir Park.

Tyrone Smith
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

Image source, SNS

St Johnstone striker Nicky Clark believes the experience of last season's Premiership relegation fight can hold them in good stead as they desperately battle for survival again.

The Perth side, who dodged the play-off spot last term, are five points adrift at the bottom with five games left.

Speaking before Saturday's trip to Motherwell, Clark said: "There are still a few boys here that experienced last year when we were in it right down until the last day at Motherwell funnily enough and we can use that for ourselves, we can use that to help the boys that maybe haven't been in this situation before to get through this.

"They know what it is like themselves, we don't need to tell them how important it is, not just the football side of things, it is the people that nobody really sees or hears about, the people that work their backsides off behind the scenes up the stairs and keep the club running.

"So it affects everything if you don't stay in this league. We know what it is going to take and we are going to give absolutely everything to get us out of the situation."

The Premiership table may not make pretty reading for St Johnstone but Clark insists they have shown enough this season to suggest they can get out of trouble.

He said: "At one point we thought we were dead and buried, I think we were maybe eight, nine even 10 points adrift and we showed what we were all about, we got back into it slightly.

"I know we are still five behind but we have shown we can put results together, we can perform to earn those results and we are more than capable of doing that.

"We have more than enough experience and quality in that dressing room to get out of it."

Image source, BBC Sport

St Johnstone have given a trial to 19-year-old goalkeeper Nathaniel Nwosu, who has been capped by Nigeria. (Courier - subscription required), external

Read the rest of Wednesday's Scottish gossip column...

Sam Miller
Fan writer

A defeat in a semi-final is always disappointing but we have five cup finals to feast on in the coming weeks.

I look around the St Johnstone squad and wonder who is driving standards and being vocal in the dressing room.

Previous teams had Dave Mackay, Liam Craig and Murray Davidson making sure everyone was doing their utmost to win a football match. I just can't see the same desire or fire in the belly, which may be the current side's downfall.

As always, I love nothing more than being proved wrong and if we can gather some momentum, starting away to Motherwell on Saturday, then we can look forward to an absolute rollercoaster last month of the campaign.

There may not be trophies up for grabs any more but celebrating survival would be up there with some of the great achievements this wonderful club has produced over the past 20 years.

Sam Miller can be found at Dogger Saints, external

St Johnstone striker Uche Ikpeazu, the 30-year-old who made a 15-minute cameo appearance in Sunday's Scottish Cup semi-final defeat by Celtic, has revealed that it was not until after a fifth operation to his knee that he started to see light at the end of a near season-long absence. (The Courier), external

Read Tuesday's Scottish Gossip in full.