Liam Craig targets a goal against Hibs before Easter Road move

LIAM Craig is determined to see out his St Johnstone career on a high after signing a pre-contract deal with Hibernian. He is even prepared to score the winning goal against his new club, if selected.

As far as the midfielder is concerned, he expects to be at St Johnstone until the end of the campaign. “From my point of view, it’s a pre-contract for next season but I’m not sure if anything will change and the clubs will try to make it happen now,” he said. “As far as I’m aware it’s end of the season.”

It means he could line up against Hibs as early as next month, when St Johnstone travel to Easter Road for a Monday night league fixture on 11 February. “It would be great to go and score the winner against Hibs,” he said. “At the end of the day, St Johnstone are still paying my wages and I’m a St Johnstone player. I love the club and they’ve been great to me.

“Five years ago my career was going backwards and Derek McInnes and the club were brilliant to me so I’m going to give my all right up until the last. Fans pay good money to support us and they deserve players to play well. You play with that pressure every week. Having agreed to join Hibs next season doesn’t change that.”

There could certainly be few complaints from fans of the Perth club who witnessed the midfielder’s display on Sunday against Motherwell. Although his side lost 3-2, Craig scored once and was an influential factor in St Johnstone’s late comeback from three goals down. He is focused on helping St Johnstone back into the top six and into Europe before a new career beckons at Easter Road, where he is highly rated by Hibs manager Pat Fenlon. “I’ve got to play well every week to keep myself in the team and make sure I end my time on a high. The last five-and-a-half years have been excellent and the club have been brilliant so there’s no way I’m going to down tools.

“I’ll give everything every week and if I’m not playing well the manager will take me out. It’s a strange situation and I’m looking forward to the challenge next season. But I’m just focused on St Johnstone. We’ve been close in recent years in the Scottish Cup so if we could go on a run there and get into the top six and end it on a high with European football it would be brilliant.”

Craig was delighted to get back on the scoresheet on Sunday after scoring earlier in the month against Dundee. “I got three in a week back in October but hadn’t scored until the start of January so I need to add more goals to my game,” he said.