St Johnstone will need clean sheets to stay in the Premiership, according to manager Callum Davidson.
And sorting out the Perth side’s leaky defence is an urgent priority.
Since Saints beat Kilmarnock at the end of October there has just been one zero to their name – away to Motherwell over two months ago.
And for the 2022/23 season as a whole, they’ve only had four clean sheets.
In Nicky Clark’s absence there are clearly issues at the other end of the pitch as well.
But Davidson is in no doubt as to the chief area of concern.
“The result on Saturday was a real disappointment,” said the Saints boss. “We are making it difficult for ourselves with the goals we’re losing.
“It was a long kick up the park and we shouldn’t be getting undone by that.
“To lose a goal like that and then one from a set-piece is really poor, so we have to address that.
“If you concede goals like that you won’t win games and we have to do so much better.
“We have the players to do it but we need to be more solid – there’s no doubt about it.
“You can talk about the attacking side but to win games in this league you have to be defensively sound first and foremost.”
Davidson added: “This season we have scored a lot more goals than last year but we have lost far too many.
“We haven’t kept enough clean sheets so the focus has to be on doing that because when you have that foundation it gives you the platform to win games.
“That’s what our focus has to be in the games we have left.
“I always pride myself on being defensively organised and everyone being good at their jobs.
“That is the thing that we have to get back to now.”
Settled team
If there are no training ground set-backs, at Livingston this weekend Davidson will at least be able to start with Dan Phillips and Cammy MacPherson in central midfield for the first time in six games.
“We need to try to find a settled team as well because it has been difficult lately,” he said.
“We’ve had Andy Considine suspended, Cammy MacPherson injured, Ryan McGowan is just coming back and Nicky Clark missing.
“So we’ve had to change things up a fair bit in key areas of the park.
“The good thing is Cammy has been back on the pitch now and Ryan McGowan has come through another game.”
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