Fighting spirit is praised

St Johnstone manager Callum Davidson took great pride from watching the fighting spirit of his team at Ibrox.

Saints failed to let Ianis Hagi’s goal early in the second half throw them off track and they were well in contention through to the final whistle.

Many teams have moved on to concede two, three or more in similar circumstances but the Perth side stood up to the challenge of high-flying Rangers.

And Davidson said: “The form we’ve been in across the last month has been really good, getting to the final and a couple of good victories.

“If we’d wilted on Wednesday I might have been worried, but you saw with the performance in the last 25 minutes what the spirit is like.

“We tried to get on the ball, moved it from side to side and cause them problems. I thought first half my boys worked really hard.

“You come to Ibrox and sometimes your goal gets peppered and your goalkeeper is producing save after save.

“But I think Zander had one save to make. It says a lot about my players.

“When we went a goal down I thought they performed really well, showed a lot of fight and character. We maybe could’ve sneaked something in the end.

“All I can do is credit my players. I enjoyed their fighting spirit and drive to try and get a result in the last 25 minutes.”

Rangers forward Kemar Roofe was lucky to stay on the park in the first half after a high challenge on Murray Davidson.

And the Perth boss said: “I don’t think there was any malice in the tackle but it doesn’t look great.

“TV pictures can slow it down and make it look worse than it is.

“You come to Ibrox against a top class team and I think you need decisions to go for you and that little bit of luck.”

Midfielder Davidson was to be assessed after limping off later in the half but his manager noted the injury as a“concern”.

David Wotherspoon, highly influential in recent weeks, had missed out on the game completely.

But Davidson said: “David missed out but hopefully he’ll be okay for Saturday.

“He twisted his ankle on the surface at Kilmarnock.”

Adding further competition for places is Millwall loanee James Brown, who made his first start for the club on Wednesday.

“He missed the first couple of weeks and the team had played well,”Davidson said.

“It was good to get him a game, fit and he can now put pressure on Shaun

Rooney for the right wing-back spot.”