Callum Davidson believes the transition from a soft McDiarmid Park playing surface in midweek to a firmer one at Easter Road a few days later was a factor in THREE St Johnstone players being forced off with muscle injuries against Hibs.
Saints’ starting right wing-back at Easter Road, Tom Sang, had to be substituted midway through the first half and then his replacement, James Brown, didn’t make it out for the second half.
The unwanted hat-trick was completed by Jamie McCart, who lasted until the 85th minute before he hobbled off.
“It’s not great when both of your right wing-backs get injured within 20 minutes of each other,” said Davidson.
“I was almost going to bring Shaun Rooney down from the stand in the second half!
“But it shows our squad is a good size at the moment and Michael (O’Halloran) did well when he came on and gave us a wee threat.
“Tom is a hamstring, James is a calf and Jamie a groin.
“Our pitch is quite soft and it was firmer there.
“When you contrast the pitches and ask boys to play at that intensity you always run the risk of picking up little niggles.
“Fortunately it didn’t cost us the game but I wasn’t able to make too many forward-thinking changes.”
Hibernian climbed up to fourth in the Scottish Premiership despite being held to a frustrating 0-0 draw by St Johnstone 👇 pic.twitter.com/0eHRGHYDnM
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) March 5, 2022
There were plenty people in the ground who felt Davidson was lucky not to lose another player early in the second half – this time for a red card.
Cammy MacPherson got away with a yellow card when he slid in to tackle Jake Doyle-Hayes.
And for once it was a case of Saints seeing a controversial refereeing decision go in their favour.
“It was one of those where he took a bad touch and he gave the ref a decision to make,” said Davidson.
“At the time I didn’t think it was a red card but I haven’t seen it back.
“We’ve had some really tough decisions go against us this season and maybe we were a bit lucky to get one today.”
Quite happy
Saints’ draw cancelled out Dundee’s at Motherwell and Davidson was reasonably content with the point.
“It was a bit like a boxing match,” he said. “Both teams were sparring but neither team managed to land any punches.
“I thought we both tried to have a go and get into good areas but the quality in the final third let both teams down.
“The lads put everything into it and in the end I am quite happy with the point.”
