St Johnstone manager Callum Davidson has admitted his team were “miles off it” as they slumped to a dispiriting defeat to St Mirren.
The Perth side had the chance to close to within two points of their opponents but the McDiarmid Park performance was well below the standard required for a game of that significance.
There were no shots on target for Davidson’s side in the whole match and the Buddies were the team which rose to the occasion.
“It was very disappointing,” said the Saints boss.
“I knew it was going to be about first contacts and winning second balls. We didn’t do that.
“That was the biggest disappointment. We’ve been good lately but today we were miles off it.
“The fight has been there but today it wasn’t.
“There was always going to be one goal in it but again, if you don’t do the basics well, you’re not going to get chances.
“We went a goal down and we didn’t play well enough after that. We didn’t do the right things to put them under pressure.”
‘In our hands’
With St Mirren and Aberdeen now eight points clear of Saints with only three games left, Davidson will now need to make sure his players do enough to keep Dundee at bay and then, hopefully, emerge with their top flight status intact through the play-offs.
“Today was another game like Ross County where we were trying to catch a team above us and unfortunately we haven’t,” he added.
“But compared to January when we were five or six points behind, it’s in our hands now to stay in the league.”
