Callum Davidson admitted that suffering the heaviest defeat in his time as St Johnstone manager was “bitterly disappointing”.
But taking on – and getting thrashed 7-0 by – an in-form Celtic side about to be crowned Scottish champions is not going to define the Perth side’s season.
And Davidson is confident that their Premiership survival bid will be back on course when the post-split fixtures begin.
“We lost some really poor goals,” he said. “The second one especially (Callum Booth’s pass-back going straight to Giorgios Giakoumakis).
“After that it was backs against the wall.
“Their confidence was up and you could see that.
“They brought lots of energy to the game and unfortunately we just couldn’t match them.
“That’s my honest assessment of the game.
“Of course it’s bitterly disappointing.
“Ultimately, our fight is for survival.
“It’s not in games like this.
"Celtic could score as many as they want today!" 🍀
Matt O'Riley gets his second of the game! pic.twitter.com/rCiYVqAj3E
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) April 9, 2022
“It’s a really tough place to come and try and get a point, let alone three.
“Our fight is for survival and after the split and the wee break we will be ready.
“Take away today’s game and we’ve been in good form, on a winning streak.
“Today we were just beaten by the better team. It’s as simple as that.”
Changes made no difference
The solidity and intensity that underpinned Saints’ back to back home wins deserted them at Celtic Park.
“We tried to make some changes at half-time but it wasn’t to be,” said Davidson.
“The scoreline is hard to take, I have to say that.
“We didn’t do the basics well. We didn’t make it difficult for Celtic.
“That’s really hard to take. We allowed them too much time on the ball and we made it easy for them.
“That said, I thought they were ruthless for 90 minutes today.”
