The Premiership paused for a fortnight.
But on its resumption it was the same old story for St Johnstone.
Week after week, Saints have lost a game by conceding from a set-piece and then lost a player late in the contest to compound their misery.
The team’s position in the league is slipping and confidence on the pitch and in the stands is seeping away with every self-inflicted wound.
Courier Sport picks out three talking points from a dispiriting 2-0 defeat to Hibs at Easter Road.
Sprangler’s return
Sven Sprangler made his St Johnstone debut in this fixture almost exactly a year ago.
The circumstances for the team were pretty similar.
It was two points from five 12 months ago, three from four this time around.
But the direction of travel from a team standpoint was comparable.
For Sprangler, though, the contrast was stark.
Under Steven MacLean, he’d been talked up after signing as a free agent and his manager was desperate for the red tape to be cut to allow his latest recruit to get out on the pitch and beef up his midfield.
Under Craig Levein, he’s been a peripheral figure, fit and available since the second group game of the Premier Sports Cup but only used once off the bench (at Alloa).
It would have been no surprise had Sprangler found another club before the transfer window shut.
That he was back in the starting line-up for the first time in six months for this contest was a shock given how reluctant Levein had previously been to turn to the Austrian this season.
It was the right decision.
Sprangler added bite to the centre of the pitch, won headers, tackles and wasn’t afraid to ‘leave one on’ an opponent when opportunity knocked.
He was one of four Saints players who will feel they could have prevented the opening goal but, all in all, can be happy with his display.
Put it this way, he didn’t look like a player who a struggling team can afford to overlook.
It would be a shock if Sprangler isn’t in the starting line-up to face Ross County next weekend.
The short-term problem is that, naturally, a player making his return following half a year out got less effective as the game went on as a result of tiredness.
And the same could be said for Jason Holt, whose match fitness is still short of where you’d want it to be given his club-less start to the season.
Sprangler-Holt is the best combination in the middle of the park to protect the defence and get enough ball for this Saints side.
It will be a few weeks before they’re at their best, however.
No excuses (again)
Just when you think you’ve seen it all.
I can’t recall as sustained a spell of indiscipline from a St Johnstone team as the one that shows no signs of ending.
Aaron Essel’s red card at Alloa was an act of indulgence and he was lucky not to follow it up with another sending off in the SPFL Trust Trophy clash with Brechin not long after.
To his credit, he’s been a far more controlled player since then.
But his lesson learned should have been a collective lesson learned.
Adama Sidibeh and Benji Kimpioka are exciting, young players but they have severely hampered their team’s chances of building early-season momentum of a positive variety.
Jack Sanders was unfortunate to pick up a second yellow two weeks ago but the reds either side of his against Motherwell beggar belief.
Had Sidibeh been in the team at Easter Road, I’d have expected him to score when Hibs were a hesitant, fearful side in as comfortable a first half as Saints have enjoyed all season.
And for Kimpioka not to have an appreciation of his team’s predicament, and the bigger picture of the match that comes next, by allowing frustration to boil over at the death on Saturday afternoon was head in the hands stuff for anybody wishing St Johnstone well.
None of these reds in the Premiership have cost Saints the game in the here and now, but they’re bleeding though their season.
Big problems
There are issues everywhere you look.
For starters, Saints are an unlucky team.
It shouldn’t have led to a goal, but Jason Holt was wrongly punished for a handball in midfield to give Hibs their opportunity to load the box in first half stoppage time.
As mentioned above, they’re ill-disciplined.
They can’t be relied upon to win the first contact when a dead ball comes into the danger area or react quickest thereafter.
They don’t have a confident goalkeeper in rhythm (they don’t have a goalkeeper coach to support the process of building that).
They do play nicer football than last season or the season before that but, after an impressive start from the forwards, that’s three games on the bounce when midfield and attack haven’t been as synchronised as you’d like to see.
Wrong options are being chosen too frequently.
And, perhaps most concerning of all, they are lacking on-pitch leadership and are starting to show signs of feeling sorry for themselves.
How else do you explain not laying a glove on a bang average at best Hibs team, notorious for allowing their opponent back into the game?
That second half St Johnstone display was meek.
And you can’t ignore the fact that, in the ground, there were some fans calling for a change of management.
After three grim seasons, supporters see another slog stretching out in front of them.
The problems are mounting up but filling jerseys with character, resilience and discipline is no easy task.
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