Season 2012-13

With several top team players leaving at the end of the previous season, most notably Hugh Murray, Steven Thomson, Jeroen Tesselaar, Nigel Hasselbaink and Graeme Smith, Danny Lennon had to look for replacements for key positions.
In came Jon Robertson from Cowdenbeath, ex MK Don Lewis Guy and Sam Parkin from Queen of the South.

However, preparation were thrown into turmoil with the protracted saga of Rangers administration and pending liquidation, which cast a shadow over the whole of Scottish football and put a halt on many transfers as finances were assessed and re-assessed in an ever changing situation.

In the week before the season started, Saints signed former Rangers keeper Grant Adam as cover for Samson. Unfortunately in the first week of the season, Adam was badly injured in an U-20 match, prompting a return to Saints for former keeper Chris Smith who signed a short term deal on the eve of the 2nd match. There was further injury woe in the third game of the season when Darren McGregor, who had fought back to fitness throughout the previous season following a cruciate ligament injury, damaged the cruciate in his other knee and faced another season of rehab.
On the back of losing McGregor Saints brught in defender Paul Dummett on loan from Newcastle United until January.
A steady start to the season saw Saints produce some fine football and earned great reviews for the style and flair throughout the team.

Some of the best performances were seen in the League Cup, leading to a semi final appearance against Celtic at Hampden. History was against Saints, having failed to find the net in their previous eight meetings, but led by new January signings Conor Newton and Esmael Goncalves, Saints triumphed 3-2 in a thrilling match.

In mid March, another five goal thriller at the National Stadium saw Saints lift the League Cup for the first time in their history with goals from Goncalves, Thompson and Newton securing a 3-2 win.

With silverware in the boardroom, many felt that Saints could push on and improve on last seasons highest finish, but some poor displays in the run in meant that again, it wasn't until the last three games that safety was secuured, and that was by default as Dundee failed to reach their points target, whilst Saints tried their best to throw away all the good work with just two wins in fifteen games.