St Johnstone shocked a lot of people by knocking Rangers out of the Scottish Cup quarter-finals, but didn’t surprise themselves, insists star Craig Bryson.
The midfielder says the Perth side go into all of their games full of belief that they can win, and Rangers at Ibrox on Sunday was no different.
James Tavernier scored for Rangers with four minutes of extra-time left, but goalkeeper Zander Clark raced up for a last-gasp corner, set up Chris Kane for the equaliser and then saved two penalties in the shoot-out, which Saints won 4-2.
Clark insists he scored that equaliser, but Bryson says his teammates are very much giving it to Kane.
East Kilbride man Bryson admits when that Rangers goal went in, most would have felt that was it, but not him or his teammates.
He said: “I don’t think many people gave us a chance, going into the game, but we believed that we could go there and actually get the result.
“It was quite incredible because when Rangers scored I think everybody just thought that was game over.
“We got the corner in the last minute, and you just expect the keeper to go up, but I don’t think anybody expects them to kind of score or be involved.
“Usually at that time it just fizzles out to nothing, but luckily for us it was a great cross, Zander’s got his big head right on it, and luckily it fell to big Kano and he’s tapped it home.
“I think from then, we’re on a high and Rangers are a wee bit deflated, and I don’t know if that gave us the edge going into the penalty shoot-out a wee bit."
Bryson says Clark insists he scored the equaliser, but the big goalie's teammates are having none of it.
He laughed: “Zander thinks he’s scored it, he’s telling everybody he’s scored it, but I’m not even sure it was going on target!
“At that stage of the game I don’t think we were bothered who scored it.
“I think for the fairy tale it would have been excellent if it had gone down as Zander’s goal.
"I saw him on Twitter asking the dubious goals panel to have a look at it, but I think he will be disappointed when it comes back!”
Bryson was delighted with the win but says it's important that nobody gets too carried away.
He said: "We’re only into the semi-final, nothing was won, we’re only through to the next round, but probably nobody expected us to be.
“Before the game we knew how tough it was going to be.
“You need a wee bit of luck on your side, and Zander has made a few good saves in the game, then come up with an assist right at the end.
“But we had a couple of chances ourselves that we’re a bit disappointed that we didn’t take.
“However, we stayed in the game, made it hard for Rangers, and met them on the counter-attack when we could.
“You don’t want to get too carried away; of course everybody in the semi-finals will believe they can win it now, with Celtic and Rangers being out, and it was kind of the same in the Betfred Cup when we won that.
“We just thought we had as good a chance as anybody [in the League Cup], just go out and do what we can, try to win the trophy, and this is going to be no different.
“We’ve obviously got a good bit of experience of being at Hampden a few times this season, so I’m sure that will stand us in good stead, but we’re definitely not taking anything for granted.
“We’re not walking about saying ‘we’re going to win the Scottish Cup’ now just cos we put out Rangers.”
Bryson says St Johnstone have approached every game in the same manner, whether it has been Kelty Hearts in the League Cup or Rangers in the Scottish Cup.
He said: “We basically play the same way in every game, everybody knows their job - even like myself, when you’ve not played every game, when you come in you know what’s expected and what you need to do.
“That’s credit to the gaffer, and that’s throughout the whole team and the whole squad.
“We’re a very small squad, everybody’s in it together and if you’re not playing you just have to get on with it.
“I think you see the team spirit, and you need that, to go on and do what we’ve done this season, like winning the Betfred Cup, finishing in the top six and coming back on Sunday night like we did.”
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