We’ll have to do it the hard way – Callum Davidson knows Saints face tough round

Posted Sunday, April 18, 2021 by PA

Callum Davidson could not care less who emerges victorious from Sunday’s Old Firm showdown – because his St Johnstone side face an almighty task reaching Hampden no matter what.

The Perth outfit have already lifted the Betfred Cup this season and now have a quarter-final to look forward to after easing past Clyde 2-0 at McDiarmid.

Their prize is a trip to Glasgow to face the winners of Rangers and Celtic’s last-16 derby clash.

Davidson will be at Ibrox to watch the match unfold but he knows that, no matter the outcome, his team will be written off as the underdogs.

The Saints boss, whose side struck twice inside 21 minutes with goals from Guy Melamed and Michael O’Halloran before taking their foot off the gas, said: “I’ve not got a preference for tomorrow, but I’ll go and watch it. I’ll enjoy the victory tonight and I’ll look forward to whoever we play.

“Without a doubt we’ll have to do it the hard way.

“It’s a one-off game but we’re back in the quarter-finals of a major competition which is another great achievement.

“We’ll look forward to whoever we play in the next round.

“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.”

Clyde were playing their 10th game in the space of 22 days after being forced into a gruelling schedule following the resumption of their lockdown-hit Scottish League One campaign.

With a vital relegation crunch against Forfar to come on Tuesday, Danny Lennon was forced to leave out a string of his regulars, including former Scotland striker David Goodwillie.

And the Bully Wee boss was furious with the way his fatigued part-time outfit have been treated by Scottish football chiefs.

And there was further cause for frustration late on when Lewis Jamieson wrongly had a lifeline strike ruled out for offside.

“I’d have love to have seen what would have happened in the final 10 minutes if it wasn’t for a very strange decision from the linesman,” said the former St Mirren boss. “Apparently it was for offside but the ball through to LJ came off the St Johnstone defender.

“It’s been a very challenging month. That’s the fourth Thursday in a row we’ve had to play. I’m not getting the violin out but I just feel that the lower league clubs have been really shafted here in terms of the demands placed upon us.

“The SFA even wanted us to kick off today at 11.45am against a full-time team who’ve had a full week’s build-up when we’ve played Saturday, Tuesday, Thursday and now today, so I have to thank Callum for agreeing to the 5.30pm kick-off.

“I’m going on a right rant here because it’s bugged me for the last month.”