Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Davidson left cursing after Saints share points with Hearts
ST JOHNSTONE manager Callum Davidson ended up cursing another controversial refereeing decision in the wake of a 1-1 draw with Hearts.
And the Perth boss has admitted he is beginning to “sound like a broken record”.
Steven McLean failed to spot a foul and a handball in the build-up to Josh Ginnelly’s equaliser, which cancelled out a Liam Gordon early opener.
Davidson is usually one of the more calm Premiership coaches on the touchline when he feels his team have suffered an unjust ruling from the officials but his patience was stretched on this occasion.
“I’m disappointed in the way we’ve lost the goal,” he said.
“First of all I think it was a handball and then it was a free kick on Ali (Crawford). You can see his back foot is taken away from him.
“That took a player out of position and they capitalised on it.
“It basically gave Hearts a foothold in the game.”
Hearts poured on the pressure in the second half but Saints stood firm to extend their long unbeaten home record against the Jam Tarts.
Davidson said: “It turned into a bit of a game of two halves.
“We knew we needed to press hard and work hard. I picked a team full of energy for that reason and we got off to a great start.
“Hearts dominate possession in a lot of games but we limited their chances really well.”
Lars Dendoncker and James Brown were both substituted at half-time after picking up injuries.
“I’m really disappointed for Lars (groin) and Browny (hamstring),” said Davidson. “Two young lads who performed really well.
“It was tough on them to have to go off.”