St Johnstone created enough chances to take something from the latest Tayside derby with Dundee – but came away empty handed.
A rare blunder from Dimitar Mitov handed Dundee an early lead that was cancelled out in the second half by Adama Sidibeh’s spectacular first goal for the Perth side.
But with Saints chasing a potentially valuable victory, a defensive slip-up allowed Dundee to move ahead for a second time – and the McDiarmid Park men were done for.
Manager Craig Levein was left lamenting his unfortunate side’s fate in the aftermath and here, Courier Sport has picked out three talking points from St Johnstone’s performance.
Adama Sidibeh makes his mark
Levein spent the week talking up Sidibeh, indicting a preference for starting the Gambian striker alongside the returning Nicky Clark.
A combination of his deadly shooting accuracy in training, his relative match fitness compared to fellow January recruit Benji Kimpioka, and an expected goals (xG) figure that suggested it was only a matter of time until he hit the net were all cited by the manager.
The player himself told Courier Sport in conversation on Friday: “I have to believe I will get my first goal in this weekend’s game.”
If only we’d all listened and whacked a fiver on it…
Sidibeh’s goal was of the spectacular variety; a stunning overhead kick that gave Dundee keeper Jon McCracken absolutely no chance.
There is no question over his ability in the penalty box, as rightly pointed out by his manager.
There’s also no questioning his effort outside the box. He was a willing runner and worker against Dundee.
While he was on the park, Saints worked McCracken hard, forcing the Dark Blues stopper into two top drawer saves in the first half and further interventions after the break.
That said, on a couple of occasions, attempted lay-offs were played behind supporting runners, rather than in front of them and, when Kimpioka replaced him with 13 minutes to go, the standard of hold up play improved.
The question for Craig Levein is how best to manage his two paciest strikers, given his stated – and understandable – preference for giving the fit again Nicky Clark as many minutes as possible.
Sidibeh and Kimpioka are both lighting quick, both have now scored goals, yet both seem to offer something different.
The horses for courses approach seems a sensible one as the season enters its crucial final stage.
Dimitar Mitov’s rush of blood
First things first – without Dimitar Mitov in goal this season, St Johnstone would be plenty worse off than they already are.
The Bulgarian internationalist has been a first rate shot stopper and commander of his box, making saves that other goalkeepers could only dream of and plucking crosses from the air with real authority.
However… his decision to rush 35-to-40 yards from his box to clear out a Dundee through ball early on in Saturday’s contest was a questionable one at best.
He got there first, to his credit, but succeeded only in heading the ball straight to Dark Blues striker Amadou Bakayoko.
When the ball broke to Lyall Cameron, the Dee midfielder still had plenty to do to find the empty net from the distance he did, but he had the ability to do it and Saints were behind before they’d really got started.
Mitov was at fault. He will know that himself.
But there is absolutely no sense in supporters beating him up about it and, to their credit, they didn’t on the day.
They, like Craig Levein, who defended Mitov post-match, know their goalkeeper’s value to the team and they know one rush of blood will not define his season.
Mitov is a top class goalkeeper and St Johnstone are lucky to have him.
VAR rears its head again – and also doesn’t
When a referee is referred to his monitor to check their on-field decision, fans have become used to that decision being reversed.
At McDiarmid Park, Iain Snedden had other ideas.
The whistler, having awarded Dundee a free kick after Saints defender Ryan McGowan challenged for the ball with defender Aaron Donnelly and goalkeeper Jon McCracken, resulting in McCracken spilling the ball over his goal line, was instructed by VAR official Greg Aitken to check the incident.
He did so and stuck with his original call – free kick to Dundee.
Craig Levein insisted he had not had enough time to formulate an opinion on the incident at his post-match press conference. Perhaps, given an extra 24-to-48 hours, he’ll have something to say early this coming week.
But he did raise another incident he felt VAR official Aitken might have taken an interest in.
It occurred in the first half when Sidibeh, chasing down a long ball, was caught by McCracken, the Dee keeper having lifted his knee out to his right while making his catch, making clear contact with the Saints striker.
The Gambian hit man went down at the time and, from my view in the press box, I felt there was potential for a review of the referee’s decision not to act.
Levein raised it independently, without prompting, post-match.
Chalk it up as another confusing day at the office for VAR, its Scottish operators and supporters at McDiarmid Park.
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