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A closer look at St Johnstone's route to the Scottish Cup final

A closer look at St Johnstone's route to the Scottish Cup final
© Reuters
Goalkeeper Zander Clark has played key roles at both ends and in a penalty shoot-out.

St Johnstone and Hibernian face off in Saturday's Scottish Cup final at Hampden.

Callum Davidson's Betfred Cup winners are looking to lift a rare trophy double for a non-Old Firm side.

Here the PA news agency takes a look at the Perth side's route to the final.

Third Round – Dundee 0 St Johnstone 1

Guy Melamed's strike handed Saints victory in this Tayside Derby at Dens Park but the Perth side had goalkeeper Zander Clark to thank after he saved a late Charlie Adam penalty and denied the Dee the chance to take it to extra time.

Relieved boss Davidson said: "They have a Premiership squad in my opinion so I knew it was going to be a really tough game with the likes of Charlie Adam involved. He's a top-class player and I thought he would score because I have watched him take penalties enough times. But it's a fantastic save."

Fourth Round – St Johnstone 2 Clyde 0

It was game over inside 21 minutes as goals from Guy Melamed and Michael O'Halloran put Saints in front, but Davidson was frustrated his team did not run up a bigger scoreline against Danny Lennon's League One strugglers.

He said: "It's a job well done. I thought in the first half we were very good. I actually really enjoyed the performance. For me, we probably should have scored a couple more goals to take the game away from Clyde."

Quarter-final – Rangers 1 St Johnstone 1 (St Johnstone win 4-2 on pens)

St Johnstone players swamp goalkeeper Zander Clark after his Ibrox heroics
St Johnstone players swamp goalkeeper Zander Clark after his Ibrox heroics (Andrew Milligan/PA)

James Tavernier thought he had snatched victory for Steven Gerrard's Premiership champions with three minutes left of extra-time – but that was just the start of the drama as Saints keeper Clark raced forward for a corner to head the ball down for Chris Kane's 122nd-minute equaliser before pulling off two saves in the shoot-out to send the jubilant McDiarmid men through.

Clark jokingly tried to claim the goal before adding: "Hopefully by winning the first cup we have given ourselves a chance to try and get to another final. It's massive for everyone involved at the club."

Semi-final – St Mirren 1 St Johnstone 2

St Johnstone's Glenn Middleton made the difference at Hampden
St Johnstone's Glenn Middleton made the difference at Hampden (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Glenn Middleton produced a second-half star cameo to book Covid-hit Saints' place in the final, first setting up Kane for the opener before sweeping home with a sublime free-kick to render Connor McCarthy's late strike for the Buddies meaningless.

Davidson – who saw four players forced to self-isolate before the Hampden clash – said: "We've hardly trained this week. But the players' attitude was tremendous. I'm just delighted for them. Glenn came on and produced the magic which you sometimes need to get to a final."

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St Johnstone manager Callum Davidson celebrates after the match on May 9, 2021
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CountryGold medalSilver MedalBronze MedalT
ChinaChina34241674
United StatesUnited States29352791
JapanJapan22101446
AustraliaAustralia1751941
Olympics flagRussian Olympic Committee16222058
Great BritainGreat Britain16181852
Today's Olympic highlights header

Friday's key events


HOCKEY
· Great Britain's women aim to secure their place on the podium as they face India in the bronze medal match (2.30am)
· Netherlands - silver medallists five years ago - and Argentina battle for the gold medal in the women's final (11am)

BEACH VOLLEYBALL
· The women's gold medal will be decided as Australia and USA go head to head (3.30am)

BOXING
· Lauren Price will be looking to add to Team GB's success in the ring when she takes on Nouchka Fontijn of Netherlands in the women's middleweight semi-final (6am)

DIVING
· Tom Daley already has one Olympic gold to his name in Tokyo, and he begins his bid for second in the men's 10m platform. Teammate Noah Williams is also involved in the preliminary round (7am)

CYCLING
· Jason Kenny's reign as sprint king may be over, but Jack Carlin looked strong in his bid to succeed his compatriot. He takes on Harrie Lavreysen in his sprint semi-final (8.10am), with the final taking place later in the day (10.35am)
· The women's madison makes its Olympic debut at the velodrome as Team GB duo Katie Archibald and Laura Kenny look to add another medal to their collections (9.15am)

FOOTBALL
· Hosts Japan will look to get themselves on the podium as they face Mexico in the men's bronze medal match (10am)
· The women's champions will be crowned as both Sweden and Canada aim to win Olympic gold for the very first time (1pm)

ATHLETICS
· The men's 5000m final includes Great Britain's Andrew Butchart, but most eyes will be on Ugandan world record holder Joshua Cheptegei (1pm)
· Team GB's Jodie Williams will hope to get on the podium in the women's 400m final, but defending champ Shaunae Miller-Uibo is favourite for gold while Stephenie Ann McPherson should challenge and Allyson Felix is bidding to become the most decorated female track and field athlete of all time (1.35pm)
· Netherlands' Sifan Hassan takes on leg two of her ambitious attempt at a Tokyo treble in a women's 1500m final which also includes Great Britain's Laura Muir and Faith Kipyegon of Kenya (1.50pm)
· A star-studded women's 4x100m relay final will see a Team GB quartet including Dina Asher-Smith look to upset defending champions USA and favourites Jamaica, who boast Elaine Thompson-Herah as she goes for her third gold of the Games (2.30pm)
· Great Britain and Jamaica will also be going for gold in the men's 4x100m relay final, and their medal hopes have been boosted by USA's failure to qualify (2.50pm)

> Today's schedule in full
Todays Game Header Right
Tables
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1RangersRangers11003033
2Aberdeen11002023
3Hibernian11003213
4Hearts11002113
5Dundee10102201
6St Mirren10102201
7Ross County10100001
8St Johnstone10100001
9Motherwell100123-10
10Celtic100112-10
11Dundee UnitedDundee Utd100102-20
12Livingston100103-30

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