Head coach Simo Valakari sat down with the broadcast media to preview Saturday afternoon’s Premier Sports Cup last 16 tie against Motherwell.
You will be able to watch the full interview on Saints TV later today but here’s a flavour of what to expect…
On making it through to the last 16, Simo said: “This was our target when we started to play the group stage matches. The target was to get out of the group, to play in the last 16.
“To get a home tie and play against a very exciting Premiership team, for us it is a big opportunity and a game we can really look forward to.
“We have done a lot of good things but, at the same time, cup competition is always like a breath of fresh air. We can go and enjoy this cup and, of course, this club has been successful in this competition before.”
Simo added: “I’ve said it before many times, every competition we take part in, we want to be successful. We want to go to the next round.
“The bread and butter is the league but we can enjoy this week and I’m happy we can play in front of our own fans. You win, you are in the next round, you lose, you come back next year.”
On our opponents Motherwell: “I have seen them play two league games. I watched them live last weekend at St Mirren away. That is a difficult place to go.
“But Motherwell went there and controlled 60 minutes, playing the passes and around the opponent to create chances. I was very impressed and it tells me that it is a very well coached team.
“It is a totally different team to when we played them last year in the cup. I was fascinated to see how they were. All of us are excited because it is a challenge for us.
“Both teams want to play with the ball so it will be fascinating to see how it plays out.”
On the team news front, Simo revealed that Morgan Boyes returns from suspension and that only long-term absentees Louis Lloyd and Bozo Mikulic are unavailable. Adam Forrester has temporarily returned to Hearts as part of the cooperative agreement.
On the latter, Simo said: “Nothing has changed. I would like to have him here but this is the nature of this kind of agreement. If something happens, they can call him back – and they have.
“I can’t control what Hearts do so we just focus on what we have here.”
Tune into Saints TV later today to watch the full press conference.
