St Johnstone lifted themselves a point closer to Premiership safety with their 1-1 draw against St Mirren on Saturday.
Not for the first time in 2023 (or the first time against Stephen Robinson’s men) a controversial red card has had a big impact on Saints.
Courier Sport assesses Dan Phillips’ first half sending off and Zak Rudden’s second half super sub contribution.
To appeal or not to appeal?
There’s a school of thought that little St Johnstone did very well just to get one red card overturned this season and, as a supporter pointed out on Twitter, to get two would be harder to achieve than winning a cup double.
You could also say that Motherwell away (the game Nicky Clark would have been banned for) was a far more winnable and important fixture for Saints than Hearts away, which Phillips would miss.
But, judging the incident in isolation, this is exactly the sort of decision that should be appealed.
Ryan Flynn appearing to have sustained an injury at the point the VAR official, Grant Irvine, is viewing the different angles available to him could well have been in his mind.
But the camera angles from both ends of the pitch confirm what I saw from the main stand – Phillips starts his action to put his leg beside the ball in a completely natural fashion BEFORE Flynn stretches his leg out in an attempt to win it.
Had Flynn been injured it would have been as a consequence of being a split second later to the point of contact than his opponent.
I’ve seen a comparison drawn between this ‘protecting the ball’ sequence with the infamous Kemar Roofe/Murray Davidson one two years ago, which resulted in the latter missing out on a Betfred Cup final appearance and the Rangers players getting yellow carded during the game then subsequently suspended for two matches.
Keemar Roofe’s ‘tackle’ on Murray Davidson. pic.twitter.com/nEHZlYK7Sn
— Kerr (@kerrh_) February 3, 2021
Watch the Ibrox one back and you’ll see it’s night and day in terms of the ferocity of the two challenges and the timing of who does what first.
I would never dare try to predict the outcome of one of these hearings but Saints should definitely go for that rarest of doubles.
Zak Rudden learning fast
If there were those who doubted the wisdom of Callum Davidson recruiting the Dundee striker on loan, they had their eyes opened on Saturday.
Even if he remains predominantly an impact sub for the remainder of the campaign, he’s shown his value in that role.
And it looks like Rudden is already improving his game following the recent switch from Dens Park to McDiarmid Park.
‘Fox in the box’ attributes have never been questioned but ability to get a team up the pitch has, with Dundee manager Gary Bowyer as good as admitting as much.
The off-the-shoulder run he made to make himself available for Cammy MacPherson’s ball over the top and then the body-positioning to draw a foul from Charles Dunne on the touchline was a sign of progress on the ‘leading the line’ front – perhaps as a result of training with the likes of Stevie May, Nicky Clark and Chris Kane and getting tips from a master of the art, coach Steven MacLean.
Headers from outside the six-yard box haven’t exactly been Rudden’s signature goal but it was a very impressive penalty spot to near-post dash to meet MacPherson’s set-piece delivery.
Finding the top corner while leaning back and under pressure from Curtis Main was pretty good too.
Letting Alex Gogic run off him for the St Mirren equaliser shows there are still rough edges to smooth out in his all-round game.
But Rudden looks like a St Johnstone-standard striker in the making to me and if they don’t finish in the top six, giving him a few starts could be one of the upsides of ‘no man’s land’ post-split Premiership football.
Conversation