(Photo by Craig Mercer/MB Media/Getty Images)
St. Johnstone fans will finally get to see their side at Hampden after missing out on last season’s historic Cup double after Callum Davidson’s side booked their place in the semi-finals of the League Cup with a 2-0 win over Dundee – but on-loan Dens Park striker Leigh Griffiths could find himself in trouble with the Scottish FA after booting a “smoke bomb” into the Saints fans.
Goals from Shaun Rooney and Ali Crawford sealed the Perth side’s return to the national stadium with the win, and Saints boss Davidson admitted that it was “fantastic” to make another semi-final as he paid tribute to the noisy travelling support at Dens Park.
(Photo by Arif Hudaverdi Yaman/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
“It’s one of those we said we’d do for the supporters. I thought they were brilliant for us. They kept us going all the way through,” Davidson said.
“I thought Dundee, in the first half, probably had the better chances. In the second half we weathered the storm but once we scored, I thought we settled down, soaked up pressure and then hit them on the counter. It’s just great to go back to Hampden really. It’s fantastic. It’s a great achievement by a club like St Johnstone to get there again.
“It is really important to have the fans there as last year they were not allowed to come. To get them to Hampden and get them a day out is something they thoroughly deserve.”
Dundee boss James McPake was left disappointed with the two goals his side conceded, but insists his strikers have to do more after creating “gilt-edged chances” to open the scoring before the break, saying: “It was a hard one to take, particularly after the chances we had in the first half.
“Again, it is a broken record and I am coming out and saying the same things. When you are creating gilt-edged chances, you have to take them no matter what level you are playing at but particularly against better sides.
“You know that when they get a chance they are going to hurt you. That’s what happened. The first one was a poor goal. It was a set-play and it was ridiculous we lost that goal.
“It was really poor defending and the same at the second goal.”
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