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4 St Johnstone talking points: David Martindale thinks Saints are safe – he’s wrong but Livingston draw was a step towards it

Nicky Clark proved he's ready for the run-in and David Keltjens was a penalty box hero.

Nicky Clark's goal earned St Johnstone a precious point.
Nicky Clark's goal earned St Johnstone a precious point. Image: Shutterstock.

St Johnstone could have banished all fears of automatic relegation from the Premiership by beating Livingston on Saturday.

They didn’t.

But they did enhance their prospects of staying in the league as the ‘games left’ total now goes into single figures.

Courier Sport picks out four talking points from a 1-1 draw with David Martindale’s men that left Craig Levein with a glass half-full.


The Livingston of old

You can understand why Martindale believes his team aren’t without hope of catching Ross County and grabbing a play-off lifeline.

This St Johnstone v Livingston game was a throwback to plenty of others the clubs have contested in recent years – an arm wrestle, precious little football and a set-piece goal that looked like deciding the game.

In short, it was the Livi of old and not the Livi of much of this season.

It’s not great to watch but their players headed everything, showed a street-wise side to their game and had the appearance of a team capable of seeing this match out before (like Saints on a couple of occasions against Motherwell) dropping too deep cost them in the end.

In these circumstances, a point was indeed, as Levein pointed out, a good one.

St Johnstone manager Craig Levein and Livingston boss David Martindale.
St Johnstone manager Craig Levein and Livingston boss David Martindale. Image: SNS.

“St Johnstone are more than safe, if I’m honest. In terms of their points total, they should be OK.”

I wouldn’t go as far as Martindale just yet – Saints still haven’t won two games in a row, let’s not forget.

But they did take a small step closer to achieving their season’s goal.


Two strong pillars

There is a theme developing for St Johnstone at home.

And there’s another one relating to games against the teams around them in the league.

Firstly, only the best sides in the league take three points from McDiarmid Park, which goes all the way back to Steven MacLean’s time in charge as well.

The top three teams – Rangers, Celtic and Hearts – are the ones who have won a Premiership match here this season.

That’s a solid base for a club to keep itself in the top flight.

Secondly, under Levein, Saints haven’t lost to Livingston, Ross County, Motherwell or Aberdeen. Home or away.

That’s nine games – three won and six drawn.

Livingston's Tete Yengi looks dejected after drawing with St Johnstone.
Livingston’s Tete Yengi looks dejected after drawing with St Johnstone. Image: SNS.

Levein would obviously want more of the latter but there’s a lot to be said for the old football phrase ‘if you can’t win, make sure you don’t lose’.

It was certainly true on Saturday and will become even more relevant if Saints are still ahead of two other clubs after the split.


A robust Nicky Clark

The thought process of managing Clark’s workload is obvious and rooted in common sense.

His ankle and calf injuries have impacted on three St Johnstone managers being able to call on the club’s star striker.

Levein contemplated taking him out of the starting line-up for the third fixture of his team’s three-game week.

He’ll no doubt continue to monitor Clark more closely than any other player in his squad given his injury record over the last couple of years and importance to the survival cause.

Nicky Clark scores to make it 1-1.
Nicky Clark scores to make it 1-1. Image: SNS.

There are no assurances that there won’t be another set-back. For Clark or any footballer.

But 90 minutes, 80 minutes and then 110 minutes in the space of seven days is a substantial body of work that points to a man ready to cope with whatever match schedule the season has left.

If you’re putting away a superb equalising header near the end of that run, you’re in good physical shape.


Another big injury-time moment

If Livingston are relegated (and St Johnstone stay up) Michael Devlin’s stoppage time miss in December will go down as a significant turning point.

So too will David Keltjens’ stoppage time sliding block in Saturday’s match.

After Ryan McGowan slipped on the edge of the box, Tete Yengi did the right thing in trying to feed a square ball to substitute, Jamie Brandon, for what would have been a certain tap-in goal.

You only go to ground in the box if you really have to. Keltjens really had to.

It was a magnificent intervention to cut-out the Yengi pass.

Sven Sprangler coming to Dan Phillips’ rescue against St Mirren now has competition for the most important one of the season.

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