Image source, SNSImage caption, St Johnstone lost on their last visit to Firhill
ByJonathan SutherlandBBC Sportscene presenter- Published9 minutes ago
It is the final duel of the season between Partick Thistle and St Johnstone on Friday evening as they battle for the Scottish Championship crown, with the match live on BBC Scotland and iPlayer.
Thistle manager Mark Wilson is in no doubt about the importance of the match.
"Realistically, if we are going to win the Championship then, of course, we have to look at taking maximum points," Wilson, whose side are eight points behind St Johnstone but with a game in hand, said.
Thistle will also have to do it the hard way with injuries to key players.
"Tony [Watt] came off with a hamstring strain [against Greenock Morton] and we thought we had just caught it in time, but the scan shows it is a pretty significant one that will keep him out six to eight weeks," Wilson explained.
"Logan Chalmers was just injured before the St Mirren game. He was similar with a thigh strain, six-to-eight weeks.
"And Oisin [Smyth] has a ligament issue; completed the Arbroath game and again looking at six-to-eight weeks."
"So we have been pretty unfortunate in that respect with the three of them missing for a significant chunk of the run in."
Watch Partick Thistle v St Johnstone
Friday, 20 March from 19:30 GMT
Watch on iPlayerSmyth scored both Thistle goals in their 2-2 draw away to St Johnstone in January and Watt netted what turned out to be the winning goal when the sides last met at Firhill back in November.
To make matters even worse, their other scorer that day – Dan O'Reilly – will also miss the match with St Johnstone because of suspension.
Clearly, the football odds are stacked against the Glasgow side, who have been in dogged pursuit of St Johnstone ever since dusting themselves down from an excoriating 5-1 defeat away to the Perth side on the opening weekend of the season.
The squad is stretched, but with the likes of Alex Samuel and Ben Stanway - who both scored in lat Friday's win away to Morton – they still have a chance.
St Johnstone arrive in imperious form, on a run of seven league matches without defeat.
There has been a steely resolve about Simo Valakari's side for the majority of the season.
They have won the most matches in the division, scored the most goals and conceded the fewest and are very much in pole position.
Even on the injury front they are ahead for Friday's trip, with only defender Bozo Mikulic missing.
