St Johnstone: Simo Valakari admits relegation is ‘a big possibility’

However, Valakari won’t concede the season as an impossible mission quite yet. He might want to give Tom Cruise a call for some tips.

While St Johnstone find themselves in an unwanted, though not unfamiliar, rut, the difference this time around is they’re down in the doldrums on their own.

Ross County, their regular fellow relegation battlers, have opened up a 10-point gap by cracking the code of away wins, while the nearest strugglers, Hearts, are expected to drag themselves out of second bottom.

That’s an expectation few have for St Johnstone. The signs for survival are scarce.

The Finnish boss knows few favour his side to pull off a great escape, but he insists they “must believe”.

“Yes, it looks very, very bad, but if we don’t believe in ourselves, no-one will believe in us,” he said.

Where he might get folk on side is in attack. No-one can say St Johnstone don’t go for it.

When the exceptional Lyall Cameron smashed in the Dark Blues’ third, St Johnstone’s possession was above 75%. Even at that point they’d dominated shots and shots on target.

They ended the game with 26 shots – their highest league tally this season – and 599 passes in comparison to their opponents’ 181.

Going forward, Saints can give sides a fright. But at the back, they often look timid.

With defenders Kyle Cameron and Lewis Neilson both returning to their parent clubs this week, it’s a department where St Johnstone simply must strengthen, and soon, before any slither of belief is booted out the building.