Two St Johnstone youngsters took a bit of a “huff” last month, according to manager Craig Levein.
But the Perth boss believes the Celtic Park substitute performances of Max Kucheriavyi and Connor Smith were proof that an important footballing lesson has been learned.
“Connor and Max came off the bench against Dundee (having been in the first XI the previous midweek for the defeat to Hearts) and I think they were both still a bit in the huff that they hadn’t started,” said Levein.
“Neither of them played well and I made a point of mentioning it after the game.
“I know Connor and Max well and they’re both normally very high in terms of the effort they give.
“In that game in particular they didn’t do well.
“Connor played in a bounce game we had against Queen’s Park last week and wasn’t great in that either.
“We had another chat after that.
“So I was really interested to see what reaction we’d get from him and Max.”
Kucheriavyi got over an hour of game-time on Saturday after Sven Sprangler was taken off with a knee injury, while Smith scored Saints’ consolation goal late in the contest, his first for the club.
“I was very pleased with both of them,” Levein added.
“They went on and worked hard. And they showed bottle in taking the ball.
“Every game matters.
“They are young guys who are capable of going on to bigger and better things but they need to be at it in every single game.
“We need that in the matches we’ve got coming up.
“Everybody needs to be ready to make an impact when called upon.
“There’s eight games left and it’s going to be a real scrap.”
Conversation