So St Johnstone have toiled for large swathes of this season. That much isn’t really in question.
But they’re not the first and they certainly won’t be the last side to stumble their way into trouble at the wrong end of the table.
Since 1999, the team who were bottom of the table with three games to go have only escaped relegation five times, and two of those seasons were because there were no relegated teams at all.
In 2005, Dunfermline Athletic overturned a three-point deficit as Dundee went down. Four years later, Falkirk clawed back a four-point gap to actually finish two places above the drop with Inverness Caledonian Thistle dropping out.
And in 2014, Kilmarnock finished ninth after being bottom with three games to play, albeit they were just a point adrift of a hat-trick of sides.
And while St Johnstone’s points tally of 29 with three to play is relatively high for a bottom-placed team, those in and around them are also above average.
You can probably put this down to bigger teams dropping more points. Rangers have spilled points in 15 games, Hibernian and Aberdeen doing the same in 20 of them.
The main glimmer of hope lies in St Johnstone’s nearest rivals. Already this season, they’ve taken seven points from nine against County, and also four against Dundee, who they face in the final game. There’s also a swingable goal difference at play.
There’s been three narrow 2-1 defeats to Wednesday’s opponents Hearts, but timing may be on their side with the Tynecastle club hunting for a new manager.
