St Johnstone’s leading scorer admits that their narrow – not to mention undeserved – defeat to Aberdeen has ended their hopes of a top-six finish.
However, even though the chances of them being sucked into a relegation battle are minimal (Saints are eight points clear of second-bottom Ross County, as well as six adrift of Hibs in sixth), Stevie May insisted that doesn’t mean the season’s remaining games are meaningless.
The 30-year-old claims he and his team-mates are determined to claim as high a finish as possible, with pride and placement money the incentive for them between now and the end of the current campaign.
“The goal now is to put points on the board and get as far away from the bottom as we can,” he said. “We have got a big game next week [at home to Ross County] and, if we can win that, we can have a positive end to the season. We can then go on a run and, hopefully, win a few games.”
Saints were out of luck on Saturday, as they have been for much of the season, on an afternoon when both managers were upset by the performances of match referee Colin Steven and VAR referee Matthew Macdermid.
The pair combined to order off home defender Andy Considine in the third minute when his arm brushed against Dons striker Bojan Miovski, who went down as if he had been shot.
Mr Steven awarded a penalty and didn’t even caution Considine but, after three minutes of replays, the official accepted the “offence” took place outside the box, gave Aberdeen a free-kick but also showed the 36-year-old a straight red card on his birthday.
“I thought our performance after going down to 10 men was really good,” said May. “I thought we had done enough to get points. I think their ‘keeper has made a lot of good saves and overall we had the better chances.
“Obviously, we had to give up possession but I thought we were comfortable throughout the game. You have to give credit to us for that and, although we’re disappointed with the way it went, there are certainly positives that we can take from the game.”
The only goal was a scrappy affair. Aberdeen centre-back Angus Macdonald got a toe to Jonny Hayes’ corner and, while Saints ‘keeper Remi Matthews was able to push the ball away from the line, it hit his leg and trundled into the net. Callum Davidson’s men have now kept just one clean sheet in their last 18 games.
An impressive late rally saw Saints come agonisingly close to equalising. Malker Hellberg missed two good chances and Roos made a superb save in the dying seconds, touching a Liam Gordon header against his crossbar as Aberdeen completed their smash-and-grab display.
“We got into good positions but it was one of those days were nothing would quite break for us,” added May. “It’s tough to take but the work-rate was there and we were organised. There are certainly positives there.”
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