The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Saints must show ‘grit’ to beat drop
Aberdeen 1 St Johnstone 0
St Johnstone have “three winnable games” ahead of them, according to manager Craig Levein. And the Perth boss believes his players can put the disappointment of losing their opening two post-split matches behind them and complete a Premiership survival hat-trick.
A “soft” second-half penalty, put away by Bojan Miovski, gave Aberdeen victory.
However, Levein has sent out a dressing-room message not to dwell on the frustration, and to keep the faith that Saints can get out of the play-off position Ross County’s win against Hibs has put them into.
“It’s soft,” he said, reflecting on Nicky Devlin being awarded a 69thminute penalty after Connor Smith and Andy Considine challenged him as he drove into the Saints box.
“I’ve watched it back and Connor does have his hand on the player.
“Nicky, I think, has used that to go into Andy and the referee has given the penalty – simple as that.
“That was the thing that split the teams and that’s a hell of a frustration.
“Listen, if it was our team in the box and that happened, I’d be asking for a penalty or hoping for a penalty.
“I said to the players that if you are where we are in the league and fighting for survival, these things can go against you.
“It’s how you respond that is most important. I consider we’ve played the best two teams in the bottom six.
“The next three games, if we win all three, we will be fine.”
Livingston were officially relegated following their loss at Motherwell.
David Martindale’s side are Saints’ next opponents.
“We have a decent record against Ross County and Livingston,” said Levein.
“We’ve drawn all three against Motherwell.
“I didn’t raise my voice in the dressing room because the lads were gutted not to get anything from the game.
“We have to roll our sleeves up, have another good week’s training and see if we can put on a decent performance.
“I feel the players’ frustration. They didn’t do an awful lot wrong.
“The important thing is to keep trusting and believing in each other.
“You need grit, determination, trust in each other and you need confidence – which is the thing that we can get back by winning one game. “That’s all it takes. “And we are going into a period where we have three winnable games.”
Dons development coach Scott Anderson stepped up to the plate as the fourth man to lead Aberdeen this season after caretaker boss Peter Leven was admitted to hospital and underwent what the club described as an “emergency procedure” on Friday evening.
He is expected to make “a full and swift recovery”.
After a sluggish start, the Dons went on to dominate against Levein’s Saints.
Junior Hoilett was the tormentor-in-chief, forcing an error from Dimitar Mitov that led to a Dons corner, from which the same man delivered for Stefan Gartenmann to head over.
Dante Polvara hit straight at Mitov after a neat shuffle of his feet, before Gartenmann popped up at the other end to head Benjamin Kimpioka’s shot clear, with Kelle Roos beaten.
The usually deadly Miovski headed straight at Mitov, and had a further effort on his weaker right foot smothered by the Bulgarian goalkeeper as the home side stepped up the pressure.
And they came closest yet on the brink of halftime, as Hoilett picked the pocket of Daniel Phillips, before being brought down a couple of yards outside the penalty area.
He clipped the resultant free-kick off the bar and, Gartenmann on the follow-up, also hit the woodwork – this time the post.
The Dons began the second period in similar vein with Devlin’s improvised left-foot effort dropping just the wrong side of the post, before Mitov denied Jamie McGrath from Jack MacKenzie’s cut-back.
Angus MacDonald saw a net-bound header deflected away by Nicky Clark as the Dons continued to push for an opener, and Miovski was again denied after a neat exchange with McGrath.
The home side had a strong appeal for a penalty turned down as the ball seemed to strike an arm as Saints duo Phillips and Liam Gordon challenged for an aerial ball.
But with 25 minutes left, the Dons were awarded a spot-kick as Devlin tumbled under the closing pair of Phillips and Andrew Considine. VAR checked first the penalty call, then a possible offside, before Miovski stepped up to slot into the bottom-right as Mitov went the other way.
Miovski should have netted again soon after, but uncharacteristically put the ball wide after McGrath had led a strong Dons break, and the striker flashed a header wide with five minutes remaining.
Saints sub Adama Sidibeh flashed a header over the bar in the dying stages, a rare glimpse of goal against a Dons side who held on to record their fifth clean sheet in the last six league matches.
Anderson dedicated the victory to the absent Leven.
He said: “Peter’s fine and he’s on the mend.
“When he had to go in last night it was a bit of a shock, but health comes first and we’re hopeful to have Peter back in the early part of the week.
“We’re pleased to get over the line with the three points today, with the second half in particular in terms of the chances created, and we’ve managed to keep the back door shut, so it’s a positive afternoon.
“The players hold Peter in high regard, and part of their efforts today was definitely to make sure they got the three points and give Peter something to smile about.”