One St Johnstone player was “over the Moon” on Tuesday night, despite being on the wrong end of a 2-0 scoreline against Rangers.
Midfielder Kevin Moon was just delighted to have made his first start in over a year after suffering a cruciate ligament injury.
Now he hopes to secure more game time to persuade manager Derek McInnes he is worthy of inclusion in the Saints side set to take on Motherwell in the semi-final of the Scottish Cup next weekend.
“Obviously the result is the most important thing for the team and that was disappointing against Rangers,” he said. “It was a hard one to take.
“But for me personally, it was fantastic to be playing in a big match like that, even if it was just for an hour or so. It has made me even hungrier for game time.
“We want to pick up decent results against Dundee United and Celtic in the league before we go into the cup semi-final.
“It would be great to be involved at Hampden next weekend, but I might have to be patient as there is a lot of competition in the midfield area.
“Hopefully though, I can play my part before the end of the season.”Head-scratchingLike most of the players and the coaching staff associated with Saints, Moon is scratching his head over his side’s inability to hit the back of the net.
Last season, St Johnstone were scoring for fun, but this time round they have only notched 18 SPL goals in 31 matches.
However, he is convinced it is only a matter of time before the opposition net is bulging once again.
“Goalkeepers have been getting man of the match awards against us, including Allan McGregor this week,” he said.
“Obviously, we are creating chances, but we would still expect to see goals going in. Maybe we will give someone a hiding, but we have to show more quality in the final third and get the ball in the net.
“We are all well aware we haven’t been scoring enough goals this season.
“I know how frustrating it has been for our fans watching us dominate games without getting the goals to go with it, but I can assure them no one is more frustrated than the players and we are all working hard to rectify it.
“If we keep getting into the position to score goals they will come. Maybe a wee bit of luck could help turn things around.”
Like Moon, another Saints player desperate to make up for lost time is young striker Jordan Robertson, who made his first start against Rangers.
Moon added, “Maybe Jordan can give us a spark at a crucial time of the season. Like myself, he needs games, but it would be great if he proved to be a big player for us.”