STEVIE MAY has been getting older, wiser and better for some time now. Turning 30 this week, then, was a footnote rather than a milestone.
A goal or a victory, or both even, against Rangers this afternoon would be the perfect belated birthday present for the striker and would give plenty of others in Perth a reason to celebrate.
Saints supporters cherish May's career as he burst onto the scene and then into the team and his legacy at McDiarmid Park will live on long after he hangs up his boots.
May still has plenty to offer in the here and now and the future, though. Four goals is a solid return so far this term and the miles on the clock continue to drive him forward as part of a revitalised side under the guidance of boss Callum Davidson.
"It's being coming a while, it feels," May said. "I still feel I am improving, experience can't be underestimated, that helps people, myself included. The game get easier when you get older in terms of knowing where you need to be to receive the ball.
"Simple things like possessions in training, when you are young boy you are all nervous, and when you get older you start to enjoy the ball more and worry less about doing stuff right, just knowing what to do and where to be.
"Yeah, I think [I feel like an elder statesman of the squad]. Also the fact that I have been at the club since I was so young.
"I have left in between but I have been at the club for a long time. It is generally quite a young squad, it is a big squad. There are a few older than me but I do feel like one of the more experienced ones in the squad."
That experience factor is not just benefitting May right now. It has been a valuable addition to the Saints squad this term and has played a part in a largely encouraging start to the campaign.
Wins over Hibernian and Kilmarnock leave Davidson's side sitting eighth in the standings and the benefit of having those who have been over the course and distance before is telling.
May said: "When you are in that place that we were, down the bottom, so much had gone on in the first half of the season, to put us in that position, it was so hard to get us out of it in the end.
"Once you win the playoff game, it gives you a chance to start from all square this season and just don't let it happen again. It does help to get that reset and we got a lot of new faces in the door, which brought a lift to everyone.
"[We have not done] anything in particular [differently] but it helps that we did get a couple of more experienced bodies in, people who know the league Andy Considine, Jamie Murphy, Graham Carey, a lot of older heads in the building, which can only help around the place not only in the games but preparation-wise leading up to games and having the right mindset going into it."
St Johnstone came within seconds of a share of the spoils against Celtic last month as a narrow defeat was bookended by frustrating losses to Kilmarnock and Livingston.
Rangers will make the trip up the A9 with their confidence questionable on the back of another Champions League defeat but the Perth squad have no such fragilities in play right now.
"Everything seems to come a little easier, it's probably like that in a lot of different things," May said. "If it's going well, most things that you try seem to work.
"I try to just enjoy it and results seem to come if you are doing that and working hard as a team. Everyone doing well around you helps, too.
"When you are playing well as a team and on a good run you just want to get back out there and play as much as possible. We have plenty of games coming up before the break.
"It's going to be a tough one against Rangers, but we'll see what we can do and try to get something out of the game."
