The record books will show that St Johnstone secured what looks like a routine narrow home win on Saturday but the result meant so much more to everyone at the club.
Saints’ long run without a win looked set to continue before “goal machine” Tam Scobbie popped up at the death to net his dramatic winner.
Considering that it was St Johnstone’s first three points since December 5, it is nothing short of amazing that Saturday’s result hoisted them up into fifth place in the table.
That illustrates perfectly just how tight it is this season outwith the top three in the Premiership.
As Scobbie said, having finally got the monkey off their back, Saints will now target Ross County sitting in fourth, hopefully by picking up back-to-back wins with a victory against Partick tomorrow night.
Saturday’s game was perfect preparation for what is likely to be a “difficult” surface at Firhill.
The McDiarmid Park pitch is in a terrible state at the moment with chairman Steve Brown now admitting the club may have to go down the plastic route.
Manager Tommy Wright and striker Steven MacLean have criticised artificial pitches in the past and I have to agree with them.
Other bosses and players have expressed their dislike of them off the record to me but as always in Scottish football, lack of money is key.
It would be great to have the type of bowling green surfaces we see in the English Premier League but the level of investment needed to attain that just isn’t available up here.