Considine’s early red proves so costly

When Miovski went down as he ran for a through ball from Graeme Shinnie, who was also sent-off late on, it could only be said there was the faintest of touches from Considine’s arm. Whatever the level of force, Miovski did appear to make the most of it.

And things just got worse for Considine when VAR Matthew MacDermid intervened to send Steven to the pitchside monitor.

The referee appeared to be reaching, subconsciously, for his pocket already when watching the rerun.

Saints forward Zak Rudden forced a save at the front post from Kelle Roos shortly afterwards before Ylber Ramadani struck a post at the other end — and there were strong claims for a penalty from the home side midway through the first half when visiting defender Liam Scales appeared to place his hands on Stevie May in the area.

From St Johnstone’s perspective, the winner, when it came, was a bad one to lose.

A Jonny Hayes corner from the right was touched on at the near post by Angus MacDonald. Home keeper Matthews got his hand to the ball, but it appeared to hit off his leg a split-second later and cross the line.

Saints definitely began to see more of the ball in the second 45 and did have some excellent chances to level late on.

With 16 minutes to play, May delivered a super cross from the right that gave Melker Hallberg a clear header. The Swede’s weak effort was easily gathered by Roos.

The Dutchman’s save in the final minutes to secure the points, though, was special.

Saints substitute Graham Carey put in a cross and Liam Gordon delivered a terrific header that forced Roos throw his hand up to divert the ball onto the bar with his fingertips. Just for good measure, he had recovered in time to save Gordon’s eventual effort from the rebound.

That save also came just moments after Shinnie, already in Steven’s book for dissent, had been sent packing for a second cautionable offence after being adjudged to have fouled Drey Wright.

‘What can I say? Come on,’ said Dons boss Barry Robson. ‘I got a player sent off and it’s never been a sending-off. It is just frustrating. I was standing right beside it, but there were a lot of decisions that were… ‘I can’t speak too much about referees.’ Steven’s erratic display aside, though, Robson, given the manager’s job until the summer, has now won four on the bounce. Aberdeen are also now just a point behind Hearts with all to play for in the race for third and the UEFA millions it would bring.