Tade calls for Saints push into Europe

Published on 07/03/2013 00:27

ST JOHNSTONE striker Gregory Tade has called on his team-mates to keep their focus in their search for European football.

The Perth club sit fifth in the SPL and have a three- point advantage over Dundee United and Hibs in the race for the top six. However, Tuesday’s defeat to Hearts saw them miss out on the chance to temporarily rise above Inverness CT into third place.

It represented the second successive game where Steve Lomas’ players have passed up an opportunity after dropping two points to a 
last- minute goal in last 
week’s 2-2 draw at Dundee.

“The Dundee game was a real warning to us,” said Tade. “We lost a massive chance to get points in that game and against Hearts, and, no disrespect to them, but these are games we should be winning. We can’t afford any slip-ups. We need to win the next few games or else we will finish in the bottom six.

“We qualified for Europe last season and we want to do it again. But if anybody watched our game against Hearts they would have said that only one of the teams look like they will be playing European football next season and it is not St Johnstone.”

St Johnstone are just one of several SPL sides who may ultimately view this season as a missed opportunity. The tightness of the league table means every point counts.

“Every time we have an opportunity to move up the table we don’t respond,” reflected Tade.

“The SPL is very tight. If we think that because we are in the top six then we’ve made it already and we don’t have to work for it then we will be in for a very rude awakening.

“St Johnstone can still finish in the top three and we all believe that we still have a great chance to do that.”