ST JOHNSTONE and Inverness Caledonian Thistle will square off in the second leg of their Scottish Premiership playoff final on Monday night with the tie delicately poised at 2-2.
The Saints made a blistering start in the Highlands on Friday night as they raced into a 2-0 lead at half-time but they were pegged back in the second-half to leave the two teams on level terms.
Callum Davidson's side completely dominated the first hour of the first leg but their late collapse means that there is still plenty of work left to be done if they are to secure their top-flight status.
Despite throwing away a two-goal lead last time out, St Johnstone will not be too disheartened coming into the second leg level with home advantage.
As for Inverness, their fighting spirit continues to reward them as they set about making history by becoming the first team to come through three playoff rounds to win promotion to the top-flight.
Having survived two red cards before beating Arbroath on penalties to reach the playoff final, and subsequently going on to salvage a 2-2 draw against St Johnstone on Friday, Billy Dodds' side are showing the mettle required to do the unthinkable.
Outright Betting
Despite winning just five of their 18 Scottish Premiership home matches this season, St Johnstone head into this playoff final as odds-on 7/8 (SBK) favourites.
Each of Inverness' last three playoff matches have ended in a draw after 90 minutes and the same outcome her can be backed at a best 12/5 (SBK) while a Caley Jags triumph is trading at 7/2 (SBK).
Betting Angles
It's difficult to have much faith in St Johnstone at the above-mentioned price so I'll take a more conservative approach via the Bet Builder market by combining over zero St Johnstone goals, over three St Johnstone corners and each team to receive a card at 4/5 with Bet 365.
Whilst you wouldn't necessarily associate St Johnstone with scoring goals, they did notch at least once in four of their final six home games of the regular season, a sample that included home wins over Hearts, Motherwell and Aberdeen.
What's more, Callum Davidson's crew have lost just twice in eight outings on home turf since Boxing Day, with only Rangers and St Mirren pocketing maximum points in Perth during that period.
As such, I'm more happy to back the top-flight hosts to hit the back of the net at least once here, but to nudge up the price, I'll also throw over three Saints corners into the equation.
St Johnstone were averaging 4.55 corners per-game in the Scottish Premiership this season, a tally that increased to 4.95 when operating at McDiarmid Park, and I fancy them to follow suit here on a night where they will be roared on by a bumper home crowd.
It goes without saying that playoff finals are highly pressurised situations which can often see tempers boil over, so I'll conclude the Bet Builder with each team to receive a minimum of one card.
The home team were averaging 2.37 yellow cards per 90 during the regular season, while their second tier guests were seeing 1.58 per-game, not to mention referee Nick Walsh was dishing out north of four cautions per outing in the top-flight this term.
Elsewhere, I'll also dip into the anytime goalscorer market and take the 17/2 on offer with McBookie for Shaun Rooney to get on the scoresheet
The Saints wing-back has a knack of scoring on the big occasion and after notching against Caley last time out, he looks worthy of some interest to repeat the trick here at a tasty price.
This Scottish Premiership match between St Johnstone and Inverness CT will be played on May 23, 2022 and kick off at 19:45. Check below for our tipsters best St Johnstone vs Inverness CT prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
