Paisley pain such a hard one to take Red card or not... Saints must defend better
Gersvisitis notMission Impossible
ST MIRREN .......................... 3 ST JOHNSTONE .................. 2 Matthew Gallagher Whether a red card or not, the simple fact of the matter is that St Johnstone need to defend better.
Jason Kerr’s untimely departure seconds before the half-time whistle was, to state the blindingly obvious, far from ideal.
But, even with 10 men on the park, gifting the opposition - whoever you are playing - two free headers deep inside the box is criminal.
First Lee Erwin was afforded far too much space at the back post to level the contest on 82 minutes. Saints regrouped.
When Kyle McAllister lined-up a free-kick on the right flank five minutes later, surely the marking would be touch-tight in the box.
It was quite the opposite and strangely the closest yellow jersey to home goal hero Jon Obika was Danny McNamara - one of the smallest on the field of play.
St Mirren: Alnwick,Tait, Shaughnessy, McCarthy, Doyle-Hayes, Durmuş (Mason 74), McGrath, Connolly (Obika 61), Fraser (MacPherson 74), Erwin (Morias 85), Erhahon (McAllister 61). Not used: Lyness, Flynn, Finlayson, Foley. St Johnstone: Clark, Kerr, Tanser, Davidson (Melamed 90), McCart, May (Hendry 75), Conway (Rooney 61), Wotherspoon (Bryson 75), McCann, Gordon, McNamara. Not used: Parish, Booth, Craig, Kane, Ferguson.
The St Mirren substitute had the freedom of Paisley to net the winner.
Saints full-back Scott Tanser pointed to errors in “basic defending” when giving his post-match assessment. He had reason to be hacked off having earlier put the Perth men 2-1 ahead with a crisp right-footed finish - a collector’s item.
Stevie May, making his 100th appearance for the club in the Premiership, had opened the scoring with a 22nd minute penalty after David Wotherspoon was pulled back in the box.
It was a precious lead which didn’t last long and on 38 minutes Ethan Erhahon levelled proceedings by sending the ball down onto the turf and up into the top corner. Saints were slow to react to Kerr’s initial defensive clearance.
After Tanser’s individual piece of brilliance, all remained well. Then Kerr decided to dive in unnecessarily on Ilkay Durmus as the whistle for the break approached.
It was the kind of challenge where you often see a quick yellow card flashed in punishment but the lunging nature of the Perth skipper’s challenge gave Steven McLean a decision to make. He was very keen to search for the red.
Manager Callum Davidson said: “For me it’s a moment of madness from my two players on the right hand side, two or three minutes before half-time.
“Stay on your feet and let them beat you. Danny [McNamara] goes first and then
Jason [Kerr] second - it gives the referee the opportunity to send him off.”
Saints huffed and puffed in the early stages of the second half and looked reasonably comfortable having switched to a flat four at the back.
But there were no excuses for the slack defending which flipped the game on its head in the closing 10 minutes.
Midfielder Murray Davidson, a man who always gives his all for the Perth cause, cut a dejected figure after the game.
“We knew we were going to have to defend second half. I thought we limited them to few chances,” he said.
“We put so much into the game. To lose two goals from crosses, we’re gutted.
“To play the full second half with 10 men is difficult. But it’s not like they had chance after chance. To lose the game the way we have, it’s so hard to take.
“We’ll have to dust ourselves down and get on with it.
“There are big games coming up. We’re all disappointed but we can’t feel sorry for ourselves.”
Premiership table
they’re done.
“For me, it’s important to get the majority of the squad tied up with regards to next season as well.
“This new strain of the virus isn’t helping anyone – financially it’s really difficult for the club. Hopefully we can get COVID out of the way and start planning.”
Davidson has been doing plenty of planning for tomorrow night’s visit of Rangers.
“We need to be focused for 90 minutes, try and frustrate them,” Davidson said.
“We need to make sure it is difficult for them to break us down.
“When we get our chances against the big teams it is so important that we take them.”
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