St Johnstone boss Simo Valakari says his team's recent victory over Celtic stands them in good stead for this weekend's Scottish Cup semi-final.
Brendan Rodgers' men faltered in Perth in the Premiership a fortnight ago as Daniels Balodis' fourth-minute header proved crucial.
Rather than thinking that Celtic will be gunning for revenge at Hampden and St Johnstone should resultantly go in with a sense of trepidation, Valakari wants his team to be confident that lightning can indeed strike twice.
"People will be thinking we beat Celtic at home, they’re angry now so they’ll kick our asses," he said.
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"But I see it the other way around. If they’d hammered us at home, we wouldn’t be going into this weekend with confidence. The way it’s worked out, our players know what’s possible. Of course, we know what Celtic can do to teams. You saw it last weekend.
"But we’ve shown what can happen. You will need some great saves from the keeper, you will need the defence to work properly and some luck in certain moments and when the chances come, you have to take them.
"But rather than thinking it’s not possible because we won last time, I think about it the other way. The last game gave us an understanding of what’s needed – and a feeling that we can do it."
Brendan Rodgers' men are looking to take an almighty step closer to completing a sought-after domestic clean sweep this weekend.
That was the case at McDiarmid Park at the beginning of the month, however, as St Johnstone secured their first victory over Celtic in almost a decade. They will now look to make it two in a row at the national stadium on Sunday.
