And the award for least surprising result of 2023 goes to…….
That a team on a 10-game run without a win against an opponent yet to post a victory on the road served up an end-of-year goalless draw was pretty predictable.
Neither manager will reflect on this contest with any great affection but given there still exists a seven-point gap between Livingston and St Johnstone, Craig Levein will undoubtedly be the happier of the two.
The less said about the actual football, the better.
But for an injury-time Mikey Devlin shot, there was next to nothing worthy of note.
For the second game in a row, Levein made four changes to his starting line-up.
On this occasion, in came Dare Olufunwa, James Brown, Nicky Clark and Stevie May.
Both Ryan McGowan and Fran Franczak missed out through illness.
Back in the side for the first time since Saints faced Hearts over a month ago, May chased what was looking like a lost cause after the ball was hit from one end of the pitch to the other on seven minutes.
He ended up dispossessing Ayo Obileye before squaring the ball to strike-partner, Clark, who couldn’t find the net at the back post from a tight angle.
Referee Kevin Clancy had let the move play out but then penalised May for a foul on Obileye.
A Liam Gordon clearing header nearly set May through on goal after Michael Nottingham got too tight to the Perth forward.
It looked like the Livi defender had a handful of shirt but Clancy didn’t see anything wrong and nor did David Munro on VAR duty.
Levein was forced into a change just before half-time when Max Kucheriavyi was injured.
Graham Carey took his place in midfield.
It was low standard stuff from both teams, with the mitigation being a strong West Lothian wind.
A rare moment of excellence
The one moment of quality was a 43rd minute 25-yard shot from Jason Holt and the Dimitar Mitov save at full stretch to prevent it from finding the back of the net.
Levein made his second substitution at half-time – Andy Considine for Tony Gallacher, with Luke Robinson going one position wider at left wing-back.
Livi weren’t exactly cutting Saints open with slick, pass and move football after the break but they were by some margin the more front-footed of the two teams.
And Scott Pittman should have done much better with a shot from 18 yards than the sliced effort he came up with.
On a rare Saints foray into the Livi box, Robinson finished off a Clark cut-back but the striker was comfortably offside when the ball was fed through to him.
Clark himself would have been frustrated he didn’t work the goalkeeper when he got the chance to let fly from 18 yards out.
Bruce Anderson came close but not close enough with an 87th minute left foot shot and then found the side-netting in the dying moments.
And with the last kick of the ball Devlin dragged a glorious opportunity from 10 yards past the post.
Saints had only their second clean sheet at Livingston in 11 trips and another point in their fight to stay in the Premiership.
Player ratings
St Johnstone – Mitov 6.5, Brown 6, Gallacher 6 (Considine, 45), Gordon 7.5, May 6 (Sprangler, 66), Clark 6 (Kane, 80), Kucheriavyi 5.5 (Carey, 41), Olufunwa 7, Robinson 7, Smith 6.5, Phillips 6. Subs not used – Richards, Jephcott, Turner-Cooke, Costelloe.
Saints’ star man – Liam Gordon
This was a game for defenders rather than attackers to shine and the Perth captain headed and cleared everything that came in his direction.
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