St Johnstone's Liam Craig is keen to step out on the Hampden turf in a major final. The Perth side have made it to the semi-finals of both the League Cup and the Scottish Cup in recent years and Craig hopes this will be the year they finally book their place in the Hampden final. Saints were the first name out of the hat when they were paired with St Mirren in the third round of the Scottish Communities League Cup at Monday's draw. The midfielder said: "We know we are not going to win the league so we want to do well in the cups. If we can stay in the SPL and have another cup run, it will be great for the club. We are not getting carried away with ourselves but we have been to a few semi-finals and it would be nice if we could go that one step further."
St Johnstone take on the Buddies in the last-16 tie on either 20 or 21 September. Craig added: "It's probably one of the harder ties of the round. There were teams from lower leagues in there and it would have been nice to get one of those at home. St Mirren have had a great start to the season and it's going to be difficult but it's a game we will look forward to. We've got them in the league next weekend and all our focus will be on that game first and then we will look towards the cup after that."
Meanwhile, Ryan O'Leary has backed Kilmarnock to come through their tie after being drawn against First Division Queen of the South. He said: "The boys will cope fine. We have a good squad and we have started the season well. It's all been positive apart from the slip-up against Inverness at the weekend but I'm sure the boys will be looking forward to the next game to rectify that. We've got that passing style and we can open up teams and I think we can go far in the league and the cup."
However, O'Leary will have to look on from the sidelines after being told he faces around six months out of action with cruciate ligament damage. He said: "It's going to be a long six or seven months, especially just now when I'm still at the bottom of the ladder and all I can see is the rehab in front of me. I've got a month now to get my knee moving. I get my operation on September 22 and I'm just looking forward to getting that done and getting on with it. I've got plenty of support around me. There are players at Kilmarnock who have had the same injury and they've told me to keep my head up and told me what to expect. I'm sure I'll come back even better."