Tony Gallacher was as frustrated as everyone at St Johnstone after their loss to Aberdeen.
But the young defender couldn’t hide his relief over picking up his first start in nine months.
Gallacher broke his leg in a clash with Livingston in April 2021 – and has spent months battling back to full fitness.
A pair of substitute appearances in October didn’t turn into anything more.
So he enjoyed getting the nod at Pittodrie – and hopes after a solid left back showing to put together a confidence-boosting run in the team.
“On a personal note it was great to get a start,” said Gallacher.
“It’s been a long time coming. I think it was the first or second of April when I broke my leg, so it’s been a long time coming.
“But I’m glad the manager has the confidence to put me in, for the full game too, so hopefully I can get a good run, build up confidence and get familiar with it again.
“When you’re watching as a footballer it’s tough, you want to be involved with your teammates.
“So going out, being in front of the fans, you can hear them in the background, that’s what you want to do every weekend.
“When the boys found out the team in the last few days they’ve been coming up, patting me on the back, saying it’s good to have me back, so we’ve got a good team unit that way.”
Gallacher survived the personnel and tactical changes that followed Aberdeen’s opener but couldn’t do anything the turn the game back in Saints’ favour.
And he felt – like his manager – that the Perth side were just starting to impose themselves on the contest when they fell behind.
He explained: “By the time the first goal went in I thought we were playing in a way Aberdeen didn’t have many answers to.
“At that point in the game I was thinking we could nick something off a break for Mayzo in behind.
“But when you give a goal away like the one we gave away it’s hard to come back at a ground like Pittodrie, so we made it hard for ourselves at the end.
“The Aberdeen fans were maybe getting a bit restless too. And that wasn’t part of the game plan as such, but when home fans get on their team’s back it creates pressure for them and encourages us.
“The way we played forced their fans to get frustrated with them but, as I said, when you concede soft goals it makes it difficult.
“With the way we pressed, we managed to disrupt their play a bit more in the second half than we did in the first half.
“We didn’t create as many clear cut chances as we would have wanted but we kept the ball better.
“But when you come to a place like this you need to take your chances and prevent the opposition from getting the kind of goals they did on Saturday.”
‘Good things’ can be achieved by St Johnstone
Gallacher’s attention has quickly shifted to helping Saints arrest their four-game losing streak.
And he believes it’s something he and his team-mates are more than capable of accomplishing before once again climbing the table.
“You’ve got Celtic and Rangers but then below that, if you go and win a couple of games you can be right up there in amongst the fight for third place and fourth place,” he said.
“The last few results haven’t been ideal but we’ve got a good enough squad, good depth in a squad and good enough players to kick on and get back in the form we were in before the break.
“With the squad we’ve got, I believe we can do good things between now and the end of the season.”
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