St Johnstone failed to give ill manager Tommy Wright a perfect tonic as they could only draw at home with Ross County.
The Northern Irishman missed the match against new League Cup holders Ross County at McDiarmid Park due to a stomach bug.
Confined to his sick bed, Wright would have been hoping to hear good news from the game to make him feel a whole lot better.
Unfortunately, his team passed up a golden chance to move three points clear in fourth spot.
Instead, they stay absolutely level with County the Staggies are listed ahead of them in alphabetical order – with the split three matches away.
The Perth men opened the scoring on 11 minutes through a fine strike from David Wotherspoon before Brian Graham equalised from the penalty spot for the Dingwall side on 65 minutes.
The hosts had started without the suspended Darnell Fisher but the good news was the return of Brian Easton, who last played in the League Cup semi-final against Hibs on January 30.
It was a big night for Saints captain Steven Anderson, who equalled Alan Main’s club appearance record of 361 games.
That is a remarkable achievement at any time but particularly so in the modern era, when players tend to stay at teams only a season or two.
The Saints supporters paid their own tribute to “Ando” by applauding on the sixth minute for the number six.
On eight minutes, Graham had an opportunity for the visitors inside the box but Tam Scobbie did well to put him off and the shot flew wide.
It was Saints, however, who took the lead on 11 minutes with a well-worked goal.
Wotherspoon was the scorer, shooting high into the net with his right foot from the edge of the six-yard box after he was picked out by a great cross from Joe Shaughnessy.
After a bit of a lull, the match sparked back to life well, just a wee bit – on 38 minutes when County’s Andrew Davies looped a header on to the roof of the Saints net.
On 41 minutes, man-of-the-moment Anderson took matters into his own hands when he ran forward then let fly with a hot that nearly hit the roof of the stand behind County keeper Gary Woods’ goal.
The first serious chance of the second half fell to the hosts and they really should have been two-up.
Good work from Steven MacLean saw him play in fellow frontman Chris Kane with a neat pass.
Kane was one-on-one with goalie Woods but just a bit left of goal.
He got his shot in but couldn’t beat Woods and the ball bounced away for a corner.
Shaughnessy’s cross had to be clawed away by keeper Woods before, with 59 minutes gone, Saints came close once again.
It was goalscorer Wotherspoon who took aim from outside the box and his rocket shot just cleared the County bar.
Against the run of play, the Highlanders levelled on 65 minutes.
It was a nightmare for central defender Anderson on his big night.
There seemed to be little threat to the St Johnstone goal when he fouled County sub Liam Boyce inside the box.
Boyce had only been on the park for a few minutes after replacing David Goodwillie.
Up stepped Graham to easily beat Saints goalie Alan Mannus with the penalty to make it 1-1.
Stung by that County goal, St Johnstone midfielder Murray Davidson tried his best to edge the home team ahead again and his header wasn’t too far away from the target.
There was a flurry of substitutions as both sides tried to find a winner, with Saints calling upon Graham Cummins and Liam Craig.
Michael Gardyne missed with a 20-yarder for County then Cummins fired past the post for the Perth team with five minutes to go.
That was that, though, with both sides cancelling each other out in the end.
Attendance: 2,501
St Johnstone: Mannus, Scobbie, Lappin, Anderson, Davidson, MacLean, Wotherspoon, Shaughnessy, Swanson (Craig 79), Easton, Kane (Cummins 73). Subs not used: Clark, Doyle, Millar, Sutton, Krachunov.
Ross County: G. Woods, Franks (Foster 79) , M. Woods, McShane, Graham (Schalk 73), Fraser, Quinn, Irvine, Gardyne, Davies, Goodwillie (Boyce 62). Subs not used: Konopka, Robertson, De Vita, Murdoch.
Referee: Steven McLean.