Hendry goal secures Saints’ play-off place and sends Dee down

FOR one match day in Edinburgh, St Johnstone fans will get to relax.

In a season of unrelenting dread, their team has spared them the ultimate trepidation of going into the last game of the league campaign with the sword of automatic relegation from the Premiership hanging over them.

Dundee’s hopes of a great escape were extinguished within 24 hours of the Dark Blues’ first win under Mark McGhee.

Saints’ 1-0 win against Aberdeen finally settled the two issues at the foot of the top flight – the Perth side are in the play-offs and their Tayside rivals are going straight down.

Callum Hendry was the hero, scoring one of the most important goals of his career and his eighth since returning from Kilmarnock.

Hibs are up next on Sunday and this was a performance Saints will hope to build on and go into the ultimate test of nerve – a two-leg clash with either Arbroath or Inverness Caledonian Thistle – with a bit of momentum.

Callum Davidson made three changes to the team which drew at Livingston on Saturday, with James Brown, Glenn Middleton and Jacob Butterfield all starting.

The Dons line-up was unrecognisable from a few weeks ago but the visitors opened up brightly enough and one of the few regulars, Lewis Ferguson, should have done better with a free back post header from a Connor Barron corner.

Saints’ first decent effort was a 14th minute 25-yarder by Middleton that Joe Lewis watched fly past his left-hand post.

Hendry had set the on-loan Rangers man up for that strike but the roles were reversed for the winner three minutes later. Middleton’s cross from the right was delivered just where Saints’ top scorer wanted it and it was a lovely guided finish from eight yards that gave Lewis no chance low to his right.

With confidence up, Middleton forced Lewis into a save from a long-range free-kick moments after.

Saints did a good job of protecting their lead and the nearest Aberdeen came to equalising was when a Dante Polvara cross was sliced over his own crossbar by Shaun Rooney.

The Perth side finished the first 45 on top and David Bates needed to make a timely clearance after a neat move down the right.

Saints had an attack of real promise building two minutes after the restart but Hendry put too much weight on a through-ball for Melker Hallberg and the Swede couldn’t get on the end of it.

Zander Clark hadn’t been called upon to make a save of any note but he needed to be switched on to race out of his box to beat Vicente Besuijen to a long diagonal ball from Connor Barron.

Saints nearly put the game – and the playoff battle – to bed when Rooney met a Hallberg corner at the back post.

The man who scored from a similar position at Dens Park a couple of weeks ago saw his downward header bounce over.

On the hour, Hendry went just as close with a 20-yard curler that just failed to dip into the top corner.

Going into the play-offs, with their Premiership place on the line, is no cause for celebration.

But this was a job well done on the night.

Callum Hendry celebrates his goal against Aberdeen.