Andy Fisher says St Johnstone still believe they can stay up after Celtic win

Andy Fisher hopes St Johnstone’s stunning 1-0 win over Celtic on Sunday will be the catalyst for Premiership survival.

Defender Daniels Balodis scored with a header in the fourth minute at McDiarmid Park and after that the league leaders dominated with goalkeeper Fisher, who arrived on loan from Swansea in January, having to keep them at bay with several key saves.

The unlikely win – it was the Perth club’s first victory over the Hoops since 2016 – moved Simo Valakari’s side to within five points of second-bottom Dundee with six fixtures remaining, with the final pre-split game coming against Dundee United next week.

The 27-year-old Fisher said: “It’s massive. I’m incredibly proud of everyone – the players, the staff, the fans, everyone behind the scenes.

“It shows we’ve bounced back from last week (a 3-0 loss to Hibernian). That wasn’t the result we wanted or the performance we wanted.

“But we came out and got a clean sheet and got a win against Celtic which shows we can beat anyone.

“We have to go out next week and get the three points or this win means nothing.

“Everyone wrote us off before the game. To get the win is like a bonus three points in a way.

“It gives us a better chance now, to hopefully go out and get another three points and claw back a bit of that difference going into the split.

“Towards the end of the season, when we need the points, it’s huge. Everyone wrote us off. You look at the schedule and you probably write yourself off in a way

“But we stuck to our game plan and got the result.

“There’s still a belief within our squad we can stay up. Next week is a big game, it’s a must-win.

“We can hopefully keep the points close going into the split. Obviously, there are 15 points up for grabs in the five games after the split. Hopefully we can go into that and get a few wins.”