St Johnstone manager, Craig Levein, is confident the Perth side will find a way out of their early-season slump after suffering another Saturday where everything that could go wrong did go wrong.
Losing 2-0 to Hibs made it four defeats on the bounce for the McDiarmid Park club.
And woven into the fabric of this run of bad form is an increasingly worrying lack of discipline.
Benji Kimpioka was the third Saints player in three fixtures to be red carded near the end of the game.
It means Levein will take his team to Dingwall next weekend for a crucial clash against Ross County without either of his star strikers, Kimpioka and Adama Sidibeh.
Hibs’ opener on the stroke of half-time – a close-range Mykola Kuharevich header – was the latest in a long line of set-piece goals Saints have conceded.
Martin Boyle finished the game as a contest deep into the second half and then with only a couple of minutes left, Kimpioka was given a straight red for a challenge on Jordan Obita.
Madness
Asked to sum up the afternoon, Levein said: “Madness.
“The first half was really good.
“In my eyes we restricted Hibs to very little and I think the biggest factor in the game was the goal just before half-time.
“Hibs got a lift from that and after all the hard work that we’d put in, our team talk was completely different.
“If we’d gone in at half time, at 0-0, it’s a different story.
“There was an element of frustration from the Hibs supporters because they hadn’t really concocted many attacks or really good but that one goal makes a hell of a difference.”
Levein was disappointed that his team couldn’t muster a better response in the second half.
“It’s very difficult for me to explain that,” he said. “I don’t understand how we can go from that level of performance to dropping off completely.
“But I think the goal was in the back of their minds. I think we were not quite as focused as we were in the first half, not quite as disciplined and that ended up with Benji’s decision to go for that challenge.
“He’s apologised to the lads in the dressing room for it. But on the back of the other suspensions that we already got, it doesn’t help.”
Bad decisions
Red cards are having a serious impact on Saints’ season just. Kimpioka’s was the fourth of the campaign.
“I don’t consider us to be a particularly aggressive team,” said Levein. “I don’t.
“It’s just some poor decision making.
“I’m talking about these red card incidents but also I felt in the second half we made some poor decisions on the ball.
“Instead of putting pressure on Hibs and turning them in tight on occasions just to use Benji’s pace in behind, we played too many short passes and invited pressure.”
Levein admitted that there may be an element of the players feeling sorry for themselves just now.
“Yeah, possibly,” he said. “But nobody digs you out of the hole. You’ve got to do it yourself.
“So we’ve got to go back on the training ground and we’ve got to work even harder.
“That’s the only way I think it works for us.”
A section of the Saints’ support made their feelings known at full-time but Levein is adamant that his squad is capable of turning things around soon.
“I’m confident,” he said. “I think that the improvements in our players are quite apparent.
“It’s not like we’re getting hammered or people are having countless attacks or anything like that.
“Players have tried their best, I’ve got no doubt about that. I think a couple of things have gone against us.
“If we stick together and ignore the noise, then we’ll be fine.
“We’ll just try our best next week and hopefully make some better decisions and keep 11 people on the field.
“That would be nice.”
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