St Johnstone picked up their second draw of the season against Aberdeen.
As at Pittodrie three months ago, it was a deserved point.
Whether it proves to be a point that matters, time will tell.
Courier Sport reflects on Saints’ last game before an international break, picking out three talking points from the McDiarmid Park contest.
More evidence of progress
Saints didn’t get the form off a cliff version of Aberdeen others in the league were fortunate to come up against.
They got the Aberdeen that had its confidence back and had only lost to Celtic in their last six games, scoring in all of those matches.
That goalkeeper, Andy Fisher barely had a save to make against the Dons is a mark of the McDiarmid Park improvement.
It might turn out to be too late, of course, but the progression in this Saints team is real.
Simo Valakari was right to identify the capability of his players to go man against man at the back, a prospect that would have sent a shiver up the spine of supporters a few months ago.
And to praise the willingness to win second balls and track runners.
Jimmy Thelin’s comments after the game also spoke volumes about the development of this Perth side.
With every observation about his own players’ inability to open-up the Saints defence, he balanced it out with a reference to what they came up against.
“The game became a bit static, but they defended well and there is another team on the pitch also. I thought the result was fair.”
That there was so little between a side who could have gone third had they won and a side at the bottom shows where Saints are now at.
They have only lost two of their last 10.
If the league had started at the turn of the calendar year, there’s not a chance they would be favourites for relegation.
Young and old
Gone are the days when Saints were a two-goals-a-game-conceded team.
In the last 10 matches, the opponent has only scored two or more against them twice.
In the last four, Fisher has only had to pick the ball out of his net once – Simon Murray’s equaliser from a long-throw.
So, that’s none from open play.
Those are eye-catching numbers and the emergence of Zach Mitchell as a starter has been fundamental to that.
The Charlton Athletic man came into the team at the beginning of the sequence.
Mitchell has barely put a foot wrong.
Loan defenders who have just turned 20 aren’t supposed to be this good, this quick. They’re supposed to be promising but raw.
His anticipation, first touch and passing were all excellent, as usual. And he won the majority of his duels.
There can’t be many quicker centre-halves in the Premiership.
Mitchell’s speed over the crucial first few yards was exemplified by the acceleration he showed to match a run made by a fresh sub, Ester Sokler, with a couple of minutes remaining.
There was never so much as the merest hint that Sokler would get away from his marker.
Before that, Mitchell had come to the rescue of Daniels Balodis after the Latvian international was beaten by Topi Keskinen.
The youngest Saints starter got a man-of-the-match run for his money from the oldest.
This was Barry Douglas’ best game in blue and white.
His pass selection was almost faultless, with execution usually matching it.
Aberdeen hardly ever got behind the home defence but on two occasions they did, Douglas anticipated the danger, closing down Shayden Morris and then Keskinen as they were in the act of shooting.
Young legs and an old head are proving to be crucial to this St Johnstone basement battle.
Benji is back
For a while it looked as if a mid-January substitute appearance against Motherwell in the Scottish Cup would be Benji Kimpioka’s last for the club.
Transfer window bids were accepted but the player decided he didn’t want to move.
On Saturday, two months after that Motherwell game, he came off the bench once more.
Saints fans applauded him on.
There was no headline-grabbing goal for the Swede and, if you were watching him for the first time, there was nothing to make him stand out from the crowd.
But in the context of his St Johnstone backstory it’s not too much of a stretch to view it as an encouraging cameo.
As the season progressed and the goals dried up, the indulgent side of the former Sunderland forward’s game became more prevalent than his sporadic star quality.
There was no evidence of that imbalance in his 20 minutes on the park against Aberdeen.
He tussled with defenders as you would expect a number nine to, picked out a team-mate when it was the best option and, all in all, looked like a player keen to impress, keen to work hard and keen to help his team out.
I’ve said it before, now that the free agent market is unlikely to turn up a hidden gem, Saints will need Kimpioka to stay up.
Having seen his comeback, there’s cause for optimism he can make a significant contribution to the survival cause.
Conversation