The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Saints stuck in footballing fog as Staggies seal crucial victory
It should have been the year every St Johnstone fan wanted to last forever. 2021 has given up five trips to Hampden, two trophies and a pair of away draws against European clubs of Champions League repute.
But so precipitous has been the drop-off since all the glory, Perth supporters will soon be utterly relieved to see the back of it.
Bottom of the league and on a truly wretched run of form, this is a club and team in desperate need of a New Year reset. There is no guarantee a break for body and mind, as well as a few signings, will sort things out.
But, after losing their seventh game in a row, the current group of players have shown once more that they are stuck in a footballing fog without a bright enough torch to find a way out.
There are now four points between Saints and Ross County after the Staggies’ 2-1 victory at Mcdiarmid.
At least Jacob Butterfield ended the barren goalless run but that provides precious little comfort.
Callum Davidson made five changes to his team following the weekend defeat to Motherwell, with Covid-19 call-offs again impacting the selection.
One of the men to come in was goalkeeper Elliott
Parish, making his first start for Saints since a League Cup game in August.
Zander Clark’s deputy was tested early by a Regan Charles-cook shot that dipped just before it reached him. In wet conditions, he did well not to spill it.
Parish didn’t do very well with the County opening goal on 16 minutes, mind you. And he was not alone.
No pressure on the ball gave Joseph Hungbo time to play a diagonal pass that split the Saints defence.
Parish looked like he was going to come for it, dithered and by the time he did commit, Charles-cook was able to lift a shot over the top of him into the net.
The reaction to going a goal behind at Fir Park on Saturday left a lot to be desired but Davidson got a better one from his side this time.
And they were back on level terms three minutes later. Butterfield tried his luck from 25 yards out and got rewarded with the shot taking a deflection on its way past keeper Ash Maynard-brewer.
It was Saints’ first open-play goal since the end of October and first of any kind in five games.
Saints could count themselves lucky to go into the break at 1-1.
Firstly, their opponents were finding it far too easy to pass their way through midfield and secondly, their opponents missed a penalty.
Willie Collum pointed to the spot for a Hungbo freekick striking Craig Bryson’s arm. Ross Callachan took the penalty. His stuttering run-up did the job of sending Parish the wrong way but the accuracy of his shot was not to the same standard and it came back off the post.
The Perth side made a bright start to the second half and 10 minutes after the restart a Stevie May cross flew across the sixyard box – sadly with no team-mates there to finish it off.
They were behind on 69 minutes, though. Callachan redeemed himself for his earlier penalty miss by blasting home from close range after a Jordan White header that struck the post had fallen perfectly for the midfielder.
Two nearly became three a few minutes later when a dipping Dominic Samuel 20-yarder hit the top of the bar. May forced a decent save out of Maynardbrewer late on, while at the other end Hungbo should have scored when he only had Parish to beat and then hit the post with a free-kick.
Staggies boss Malky Mackay was thrilled with the result, which sets the
Dingwall men up for their final match of 2021 at Hearts on Sunday.
He added: “I was absolutely buzzing for the 300 fans we had down. It was fantastic to have that amount of fans there two days before Christmas.
“It’s a huge win. It’s never an easy place to come even though they are on a bit of a run at the moment but Callum is a good manager and this is a good team that doesn’t lose many goals.
“We were here a few weeks ago when it was rained off so I’m delighted we came and played the way we did.
“On another day we put the game to bed. We’ve hit the post, bar and had 20 shots.
“But we didn’t put it to bed which allows them that last five minutes where we had to defend well which we did. I’m delighted with the application and the spirit in that group of players.
“In terms of how we played it was as complete a performance as we’ve had, maybe barring the Dundee game, where we took our chances.
“At half-time I told them the challenge was to keep winning our first and second balls. That would give us more openings. I thought we passed it really well in the second half.”