Shaun Rooney hopes to mark himself in St Johnstone squad

Rooney

was named man of the match in the game against

in Betfred Cup semi-finals after scoring Saints’ second goal and setting up

Craig Conway

’s third.

The defender had a poor debut against

in August and his failure to deal with a long ball let the opponents score a goal, however, his team-mates fought back to win the game.

But Rooney did not give up and tried to impress in Betfred Cup games and is now looking to cement a place in the squad for the final game against Livingston on February 28.

“I have played in every game in the competition so far so obviously I want to mark myself in the team and play in the final as well,”

he said ahead of Wednesday’s Scottish Premiership visit of Aberdeen

.

“Kilmarnock was a difficult game for me looking back on it. I always want to do better.

“I just got my head down after that game and started working harder than ever in training.

“I could probably have done better against Kelty Hearts in the first game but after that, I started finding my feet a lot more and got my confidence back. Whenever I was needed in the league I thought I did well.

Rooney is determined to build on the Hampden win.

“We have got to do it on Wednesday night as well,”

he said

. “There’s no point doing it in a one-off game and then getting beat on Wednesday.

“We have got to keep that run going. We hope to be challenging the top six so hopefully we can go on.”

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