| The Tangerines lunchtime kick-off at Falkirk on Sunday meant Peter could not attend in person as Saints lost out against Celtic at McDiarmid Park later in the afternoon.
He does have a detailed report and, although the Perth men went down 4-1, knows for a big chunk of the proceedings they performed very well.
“St Johnstone were up at half-time and deserved their lead. It was only once they had the boy Gartland sent off right at the start of the second half that the game turned,” said Peter.
“He’ll be suspended tonight now, but, with 11 on the pitch, we have to expect the kind of performance they gave in the first half on Sunday.
“They are having a good first season back in the Premier League and the two games we’ve had against them so far this term have been excellent.
“We did well to win in Perth in the league and they came back to beat us in the League Cup. Add to that the fact it’s a derby and I am expecting another very good game.”
United go in with confidence high after four wins on the bounce and Peter will also remind his men what the foundation for that run has been.
“On Sunday against Falkirk, I thought we were excellent for the whole 90 minutes, but you can’t always play as well as that and it is important we maintain our workrate.
“That’s how we turned results round. The first couple of wins were ground out and then you saw the confidence coming and performances improving.
“To be fair, we’ve always said about this set of players that they are superb in terms of work ethic.”
Defender Andy Webster has still not trained with the rest of the squad after limping off at Falkirk and, although they both picked up knocks in that win, Garry Kenneth and Darren Dods are expected to team up tonight.
Meanwhile, Saints will replace Gartland with either Steven Anderson or Stuart McCaffrey.
Up front, Cillian Sheridan, on loan from Celtic, is likely to make his debut.
Boss Derek McInnes said, “I’m looking forward to the game. I always enjoyed playing at Tannadice and there will be a good atmosphere tonight. We’ve had two tight games against United this season and this will be a tough battle as they’ve had some good results.
“However, we’ve been doing quite well ourselves and that includes the first half against Celtic on Sunday. We lost that match, though, and have to react positively tonight. We’ve re-grouped, now we aim to get back on track.”
Meanwhile, Burnley today signed former Dundee United goalkeeper Nicky Weaver until the end of the season. |
