St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright has praised the character displayed by his players as they have revitalised their season.
Stevie May hammered home the equaliser 10 minutes from time at McDiarmid Park to earn the Perth men a 2-2 draw against Rangers yesterday – the latest in a long line of fine results.
The Ibrox men had seemed to be in control after goals from first Florian Kamberi then Joe Aribo cancelled out Callum Hendry’s early opener for the Perth men.
However, Saints dug in and have now gone six matches undefeated after, just a few short months ago, propping up the Premiership.
Wright said: “The one thing that performance had was character but for the last few months the lads have shown a lot of character.
“We were basically written off, and maybe rightly so in some people’s opinion, in November when we were bottom of the table.
“I think that is only two defeats in 15 and to come back against a side like Rangers – we all saw how good they could be on Thursday night against Braga – was pleasing.
“I have been pleased for about the last two months with the way the players have responded.
“When you put that much into the game you deserve that wee bit of luck at times.
“We rode our luck on a few occasions but, ultimately, we have worked extremely hard to get a very precious point against a quality side.
“In the first half we played better but in the second you had to give Rangers credit because they asked a lot of questions of us and pinned us back a bit.
“We took a bit of a gamble by playing two up front but it paid off.
“They linked up very well. All three strikers (Hendry, May and Chris Kane) have done well recently.
“Nobody will give us any chance against Celtic next week but if we play as well as we know we can then who knows?”
Meanwhile, Ibrox gaffer Steven Gerrard looked a dejected figure as he reflected upon some shocking defending, particularly from Nikola Katic at Hendry’s opening goal.
Gerrard said: “I want to play the same record for you.
“We should be sitting here waxing lyrical about Flo Kamberi and Joe Aribo because from an attacking point of view I thought we were outstanding.
“But we shot ourselves in the foot by conceding silly, silly goals.
“We forgot the real, strong basics of defending and it has cost us on a couple of occasions today.
“I am frustrated and concerned about us defensively because it has happened too many times now.”
