Passion shows we Saint downed tools

Oran Kearney last night vowed his Saints will never down tools – because they minute they do, they’ll start taking a tanking. Defeat to Rangers yesterday was their seventh straight loss, the worst Saints run in the 43-year Premier League era. But the manager insists there were positives to take from the defeat. He said: “We’ll come in on Monday, have a look at the footage and then it’s all systems go for Saturday. That’s our job and there’s not a chance in hell of people downing tools or feeling sorry for themselves.

“The moment you do that is the minute you start getting smacked five, six or seven.

“The first goal is important and if it’s a shot and Daniel Candeias meant it, then I doff my cap – but if it’s a cross it’s a sore one.

“You could say that’s a sign of the luck we’re having. When you’re down people say these things go against you.

“We’ve had a few in the last few weeks but we showed a lot of good qualities too.

“We said to the players today that they’re in a scrap.

“It was important for the fans to see a bit of passion. We were throwing five and six bodies at the ball to keep it out – those are the qualities you want to see.

“We had a few good chances and Allan McGregor has pulled off a couple of good saves.

“The first goal was always huge – if it had gone for us it could have been a huge catalyst.”