St Johnstone came close to completing an unlikely comeback at Fir Park, with a stoppage time equaliser against Motherwell only (correctly) chalked off after a VAR review.
The 2-1 defeat means that Saints have suffered three Premiership defeats in a row and new head coach, Simo Valakari, has now got a full, unvarnished picture of his team’s defensive deficiencies.
Courier Sport picks out four talking points from the loss.
The first goal
Some alarming individual errors have cost St Johnstone goals this season.
Motherwell’s opener on Saturday, though, might just be the one which encapsulates the overall problem they have at the back better than any of the 26 others they have conceded in the league.
A right-sided counter-attack which results in a forward chopping back on to his favoured left foot is a bread and butter situation a top-flight side should be able to manage.
When you pause the move at the moment Marvin Kaleta crosses, there are four Saints players who should do better.
Matt Smith probably could have attempted to block the cross with more intensity (as was the case with Jason Holt when a ball was played over the top before that).
Then, as it floats towards the back post, there are two Motherwell forwards in and around the six-yard box, with neither Jack Sanders nor Kyle Cameron in a position to prevent the pair of them from scoring.
And Drey Wright hasn’t sprinted back to help them out.
Only Sven Sprangler, tracking his midfield runner into the box, has done his job properly in this passage of play.
Sensing danger and knowing where to put yourself to avert it is such a fundamental part of defending.
Time and time again, Saints have shown it is lacking in this group of players’ DNA.
If they are still letting in goals like this by the time they next face Motherwell at the end of January and further signings have been made, there is only one way this story will end.
Josh Rae
There was a bright spotlight shining on the returning St Johnstone goalkeeper for his first start since August.
With Ross Sinclair injured and the back-up choice on the bench now a 19-year-old, Valakari really needed a solid performance from the former Airdrie man.
He got one.
Rae didn’t actually have a lot to do in terms of shot-stopping.
There was one excellent save at his near post to thwart Apostolos Stamatelopoulos just after the half-hour mark when he wasn’t to know the offside flag would be raised.
Rae had no chance with the first goal.
The second?
He just got his hand to Tom Sparrow’s low, drilled strike but it would be overly harsh to put the blame his way.
Wright’s slack pass into midfield and the absence of an attempted block by Cameron were bigger factors.
Would Dimitar Mitov have kept it out?
Possibly.
But I’d put it into the ‘hope’ rather than ‘expect’ bracket.
Rae dealt with corners and crosses well and made a sound decision when a ball was played over the top for Moses Ebiye to chase.
For a moment, it looked as if he might opt to rush out of his box, but wisely retreated to the six-yard line and let his defenders deal with it.
Rae actually played better than his opposite number, Aston Oxborough, who was lucky to get away with a shot he failed to hold on to in the first half that almost presented Adama Sidibeh with a tap-in and a cross he dropped in the second.
Eight or nine out of 10 heroics would be great but steady sevens like this for a few weeks will do just fine.
Bozo and a back three
He only got eight minutes of game-time and didn’t face a duel or any sort of defensive challenge in that time, but Bozo Mikulic is up and running as a St Johnstone player.
With a closed-doors game pencilled in for midweek, I’d be amazed if the Croatian doesn’t start against Kilmarnock after the international break.
I also wouldn’t be surprised if he’s part of a back-three.
Without natural wingers, Valakari has inherited a problem from Craig Levein of getting dynamic width into the team’s attacking play.
Until he can remedy that in January, Drey Wright and Andre Raymond in a wing-back formation could well be his best bet.
Strikers
Valakari’s decision to start Sidibeh and bench Benji Kimpioka didn’t pay off.
Both have struggled with their link-up work since the victory at Dens Park but only one of them has been scoring goals over the last few months.
However, with busy, robust and precise the requirements to get Saints up the pitch effectively and knit together final-third moves, the Gambian international fell short.
Given the team is now averaging over two goals conceded per fixture, it’s stating the obvious that they need to be high-scoring at the other end to get anything from games until the defensive bit improves.
In their last four matches, though, they have only found the net once from open play – and that was a Graham Carey long-range special.
Forward selections, which once felt straightforward, are now anything but.
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