St Johnstone suffered late VAR agony in their gut-wrenching 3-2 defeat to St Mirren.
But Perth head coach, Simo Valakari, insisted that it was his own team’s poor game management that cost them victory over their Paisley opponents, rather than decisions made by the match officials.
Saints had recovered from the loss of an early Killian Phillips goal to earn a 2-1 lead through Makenzie Kirk and Benji Kimpioka finishes.
With just two minutes left of the 90, youngster Evan Mooney levelled for the Buddies and then Roland Idowu scored a penalty winner deep into stoppage time.
It was retaken spot-kick after Josh Rae had been adjudged by Steven McLean, on VAR duty, to have moved off his line before saving from Mark O’Hara.
The Saints players were angry that the penalty had been awarded in the first place.
There were no complaints about McLean spotting a Jason Holt handball in the box but, before that happened, Olutoyosi Olusanya had pushed Jack Sanders to the ground.
Valakari, though, made a point of analysing what Saints should have done better – and the Finn took his share of the blame for a poor first half display.
“How we started the game, I take responsibility for that,” he said.
“We started with three strikers with pace. We wanted to go quickly behind their line but we could not control the ball. We tried to play too vertical and direct.
“The quality of our passes was not there and we didn’t create much or anything really.
“Half-time we talked and changed a couple of positions.
“I think the boys showed how good they are in the second half and scored two great goals.
“Then emotions – positive emotions – took over us. We were thinking: ‘We’re going to score even more goals’. We lost it a little bit in our heads instead of having calmness and passing the ball around.
“We were in total control of the match.
“We could have kept the ball to see the game out.
“That’s the biggest disappointment for me, plus it’s a reality check. We’re not there as a team yet that can do the right things in the moments we need them to do that.
“We lost the game at 2-1. We need to learn quickly to see those moments out.”
On the big VAR decisions, Valakari said: “It was a clear hand ball.
“What happened before that between Jack and their striker, I don’t know. The referee let it play.
“Then Josh made a save but I have been told that he took a step off the line. So I’ve no complaints about the hand ball or the penalty being retaken.
“What happened before that – I’m not a referee.
“It seemed that everybody stopped but the referee has made a decision. I’m far away. Those things happen a lot in football.”
Saints are now just one point above the bottom of the table, with Hibs jumping above them after beating Ross County.
Valakari is confident that he’ll get the right reaction when they travel to Tynecastle on Sunday.
“You can’t feel sorry for yourself,” he said. “We’ve got a big fight on our hands. There is no time to feel down.
“We didn’t win the match and, basically, didn’t do enough to win the match.
“It’s our choice how we react. Yes, it hurts a lot but we’ll be back next week to try and make it better.”
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