St Johnstone took a big stride towards Premiership safety with an Ali McCann-inspired victory in Aberdeen.
An injury time goal against Hearts at the weekend prevented the Perth side from pulling nine points clear of the bottom of the table but they only had to wait a few days to open up that gap.
The top six is now only three points in the distance.
McCann scored early and Saints held firm after that to make it seven points after the January break.
Manager Tommy Wright is certainly looking upwards.
“We’ve closed the gap to Hibs to three,” he said. “But we won’t get carried away. It can change very quickly.
“Nobody would have given us much chance coming up here, particularly after their very good performance at Ibrox on Saturday but we deserved it.
“Every win is satisfying and we will enjoy this one.
“We were excellent in the first half, controlled long parts of the game and scored an excellent goal.
“It was one we had worked on after asking the central midfielders to get beyond Stevie May and Ali McCann showed a lot of composure to dink the ball over the goalkeeper.
“He just keeps getting better and better.
“We got a bit of luck at the end with the free kick (Niall McGinn hit the post in injury-time) and we could have passed the ball better in the second half but we have to be pleased with how we played against a team of that quality.”
The defensive solidity of his team delighted Wright.
“Jamie McCart has not had a lot of time to train due to the game but he has fitted in seamlessly,” he said.
“We’ve looked more confident and he has been excellent. To get him in this window has been great and there was pressure on him as we paid money for him.”
