Stand-in skipper Murray Davidson could offer nothing but praise for his team-mates after nine-man St Johnstone simply refused to leave Paisley empty-handed.
Davidson, who wore the armband in place of the suspended Dave Mackay, opened the scoring for Saints early on against St Mirren, but Steve Lomas’s men suddenly found themselves right up against it firstly losing Steven Anderson for a professional foul on Lewis Guy prior to the interval before Chris Millar’s second bookable offence midway through the second half gave the home side a two-man advantage.
But while Paul Dummett’s strike looked like it would swing the game completely in the Buddies’ favour, the Perth club battled bravely in the dying stages to earn a valuable point.
”There are some points you get that you are disappointed with, but it’s completely the opposite in the circumstances,” Davidson noted. ”I thought the team defended excellently as a team and it’s a massive point for us.
”When you go down to nine men, you’ve got to rely on the experienced ones to pull you though and stick together.
”It’s all about communication and we feel we’ve got a few leaders in the team. You look through the team and it’s all about character.
”We felt we were unlucky against Hibs to lose the game and we wanted to bounce back with a win, but, given the circumstances, in the dressing room it does feel like a win.”
Davidson admitted the sendings off made things far from comfortable but had faith in his Saints to grind out a result.
”I asked the referee when they scored how long there was to go and I think he said 19 minutes, so it wasn’t easy!” he revealed. ”We felt quite in control at 1-0 and obviously we got to half-time with 10 men, but to go to nine you’ve just got to sit in and let them have it.
”It’s not easy to stand off a game as a player, you want to go and get in amongst it, but it’s a great point. You’ve just got to dig in and we got there in the end.”
Perth assistant Tommy Wright believes his side fully merited at least the point they earned.
He added: ”Nothing really surprises us about our lads, and if any team can go down to nine men and hold on to a result, they certainly can.
”They were truly magnificent and put their bodies on the line to keep it down to the one goal, and we’re really proud of them all.
”We had Wright blocking on the line, Scobbie’s block, you can through the whole team: it probably typifies the whole team spirit.
”St Mirren did everything they could to score and get a winner but our players stood up and defended really well, although I wouldn’t like to go through that every week.”
Meanwhile, home boss Danny Lennon cut a frustrated figure.
”It’s two points dropped for us,” he concluded. ”I thought we always played on the front foot and created chances, so I’m disappointed with a point.
”You can’t expect to pass up opportunities like that and win football games.”