Nicky Clark sure Saints can cut it in survival fight even if it is close shave

Nicky Clark admitted he feared St Johnstone were “dead and buried” earlier in the season but he now firmly believes they are playing well enough to survive in the Premiership.

Saints were nine points adrift at the foot of the table in mid-January after a dire run of two points from nine games left them staring at the prospect of relegation.

While they remain favourites to go down, Simo Valakari’s side have given themselves a fighting chance by reducing the gap to five points after collecting 14 points from their last 10 league games.

“We had a wee spell around December time where we let ourselves down,” said striker Clark. “We went nine games without winning, and on the back of that, the teams that were near us picked up a lot of points, so that left us in a situation where, at one point, I thought we were dead and buried.

“We were nine points adrift from everybody but we showed what we’re all about and got back into it slightly. I know we’re now still five behind, but we have shown that we can put results together. We can perform to earn the results we need, we’re more than capable of going and doing that.”

While Saints’ form improved in the months before the split, teams above them such as Dundee, Ross County and Kilmarnock have been faltering. Clark hopes the pressure of the situation starts to unnerve their rivals as the post-split fixtures get under way this weekend.

“We’ve been down in that kind of position for the majority of the season, so we know how horrible it is and how hard it is when you’re down there,” he said. “So if we can somehow, over the next three or four games, maybe get to one of them and maybe they drop one space, then mentally, you don’t know what that can do to them.

“But it’s down to us. We’ve got five games to get ourselves out of this situation. And as I said, we’ve got the boys that, quality-wise and mentality-wise, are more than capable of doing that. It’s easy to say that here, though, we need to go and show it.”