St Johnstone boss, Simo Valakari, has admitted that his team has started to feel sorry for itself.
And if the Perth side are to stand any chance of staying the Premiership, they’ll have to kick that habit quickly and show more resilience than was on display in their 2-1 Tayside derby defeat to Dundee United.
Saints got themselves in front through Makenzie Kirk.
But Glenn Middleton and Sam Dalby turned the match around early in the second half, with Valakari’s men not coming up with the sort of response the home support demanded.
“I am getting a bit tired repeating myself,” he said. “We had some good stuff and too much not so good stuff.
“Do we need to be tougher? Definitely.
“When you are in the situation we are and not getting results, it affects you but that’s how football works.
“We can say: ‘Yes, we need to be tougher’ but we need to do it.
“You need to feel your pride is hurting because everyone is saying St Johnstone are a soft touch who lose goals for fun.
“That needs to hurt you, it’s professional pride and you have to show it.
“Did they feel sorry for themselves? Of course, that’s how it goes.
“But there’s no other option other than roll your sleeves up and go again.
“Nobody else is feeling sorry for you, everyone else wants to kick us out.
“The teams around us are looking at it thinking we’re out now, we only need to beat one team because St Johnstone are there.
“If we start feeling sorry for ourselves then it’s goodbye.
“I will enjoy these moments in a crazy way because it’s a test now, it’s a test of character and a test of what kind of team we are.
“How will we stand up to this moment? It’s not easy, everyone is against you.
“But we’ll see now what kind of characters we are.”
Do everything better
Valakari added: “You have to show it and if you’re not going to be the toughest or most physical team in the league, you have to find other ways to do it.
“It’s not just about saying the defence needs to be tougher or the goalkeeper needs to save something.
“It’s about the whole team doing everything better.
“The reaction to losing the first goal wasn’t good, those are the moments I’m talking about.
“When you’re suffering you have to deal with it, get out, get fouls, get up the pitch and stay in the match.
“We are brutally honest with ourselves, everyone is hurting.
“We can’t just wait and wait, we have to start getting the points we need so we have to learn the things I’m talking about quickly.”
United enjoyed the bulk of the possession in the early stages but didn’t have a good opportunity to show for it.
The first half-chance came at the other end when Graham Carey sent a diagonal free-kick into the box and Jack Sanders nodded it towards the back post, where Benji Kimpioka couldn’t keep his header on target.
Carey had a chance of his own from a dead-ball on 24 minutes after Drey Wright was tripped 25 yards out, but he couldn’t keep his effort down either.
Saints had got a stronger foothold in the contest by this point and Makenzie Kirk forced a fine near post save out of Jack Walton, having been put through by Carey, just before the half-hour mark.
Just after it, United had three corners in quick succession, all of them in-swingers, but the Perth defence held firm.
Kirk made a mess of an attempted clearance just outside his own box, which presented Kevin Holt with a chance to loft a ball into the danger area. Despite a scramble ensuing, United didn’t manage to get a clean shot away.
Saints took the lead in the last minute of the 45.
The United defenders allowed Kirk the time to turn in the box and his low shot on the angle gave Walton no chance of keeping it out.
The hosts were the first to threaten at the start of the second half, when Walton dealt well with a long-range Wright strike.
It was the visitors who found the net soon after, though.
Ex-Saint Middleton, cut in from the left wing, broke through a Sven Sprangler challenge and smashed a 25-yard shot past Josh Rae, off the inside of the keeper’s right-hand post.
For the next 10 minutes it was one-way traffic towards Rae’s goal and it came as no great surprise when Dalby headed home a Vicko Sevelj cross to put United in front.
There appeared little to no prospect of Saints fashioning an equaliser.
Declan Gallagher was sent off on 87 minutes for a late challenge on substitute, Aaron Essel. He could have no complaints.
There wasn’t enough time for the red card to alter the outcome of the match, though.
Jack Sanders saw a stoppage time header saved by Walton but this was a thoroughly deserved victory for Jim Goodwin’s men and a thoroughly depressing afternoon from a Perth perspective.
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