Arthur's Column // 24th January 2023

Borna Barisic scored a cracking goal on Saturday to take us into the fifth round of the Scottish Cup. It wasn't a classic performance by the team but it would have given Michael Beale as much satisfaction as any other result he's had.

The players had to dig in and show real resilience. St Johnstone is never an easy place to go, especially under the floodlights and on a difficult surface.

I was very pleased with Borna. He has to take his fair share of criticism in the past couple of years but he never complains. He gets on with his job.

When Ridvan Yilmaz was bought for a substantial transfer fee last summer from Besiktas, many may have thought Borna would be moved on.

But the Croatian internationalist wasn't for giving up. He stayed, worked hard every day and showed his value to the team.

That's the kind of attitude we will need from every player between now and the end of the season.

Being a left-back during my career, I watch Borna closely and he does have some very good attributes.

I love the way he is willing to attack down the flanks and he delivers in some brilliant cross balls. The strikers must love his deliveries and they have benefitted from them time after time over the years.

If Borna can keep doing this, and also James Tavernier doing the same on the opposite side of the pitch, we'll be in a good place in most games.

Things are going well and we can look forward to getting another three points on Saturday when Callum Davidson's men travel down to Ibrox from Perth. The SPFL Premiership will always be the priority but I know it's going to be very difficult to haul back Celtic's nine point lead.

That's why the domestic Cups are so important. We need to win something, for sure. We are in the League Cup Final and also into the next round of the Scottish Cup. We play Partick Thistle at Ibrox and that's a tie we should win.

Things are in good shape and it's encouraging to hear the manager say we are close to bringing in some new signings.

The transfer window closes next week and I'll be interested to see the strength of the squad by February 1st.

Todd Cantwell has just arrived from Norwich and we hope that's the first of a few quality signings this month.