Steive May helped spark an unlikely revival as a second half substitute against Celtic on Saturday, and nearly capped it off with an even more unlikely stoppage time equaliser.
But the St Johnstone top scorer had no issue with being left on the bench in the first place.
Whether it was the 4-5-1 formation, the men trying to make it work, or a combination of the two, it is certain Saints made virtually no impression on the champions in as one-sided a first half as you will see.
The Perth men improved after the break, without looking like making any inroads into the 2-0 deficit. However, after May’s introduction on 62 minutes, they soon became a serious threat and grabbed a goal through fellow substitute Liam Caddis.
Had May been able to guide a near-post flick inside the post rather than on to it, a remarkable recovery would have been completed.
It was the second away game in a row that May has been the man to miss out when Tommy Wright has opted for a lone centre forward, and the 21-year-old fully understands his manager’s reasoning.
He said: “The gaffer didn’t pick me for the game because he thought it wouldn’t suit me as much as other games.
“He’s gone for one up top and played Macca (Steven MacLean). The thinking behind it was that he was better suited for that formation.
“I want to play as many minutes as I can but the gaffer wants to develop me as a player. As long as I’m performing well, I’m happy to give him the problem of when to play me and when not to.
“Some games will suit me more than others. I know I can learn a lot from Macca and I trust the gaffer. I respect all the decisions he makes, and I know the rest of the boys do as well.”
Wright is less likely to hold back his most prolific frontman for their next road trip Hamilton Accies in the League Cup on Tuesday night.
For obvious reasons, May certainly hopes to be a starter.
He pointed out: “I’ll be ready to go again for Tuesday, which is a massive game for the club because we want to get to the next round of the cup, and a massive game for me personally because I played for Hamilton last season.
“It will be good to go back to New Douglas Park and see everybody again. But we’ve got an important job to do.
“It won’t be easy because they’re flying at the top of the Championship but we’ll prepare properly and be ready to go.”
The nearest Saints came to a chance in the first half was when a Chris Millar through-ball was headed dangerously back to his keeper by Derk Boerrigter and Fraser Forster had to make a diving save. That was it.
It was a totally different story in the last 20 minutes of the match, however. May had a near post header six minutes after his introduction which flew over, and on 79 minutes he put Millar through on goal. The midfielder forced a save out of Forster but should have scored.
Then three minutes later Caddis netted his first goal for Saints by helping a Dave Mackay cross over the line from close-range, and the sea-change was summed up by the young midfielder trying to grab the ball off Forster, who was reluctant to let him.
MacLean believed he should then have had a penalty when he went down in the box from an Anthony Stokes challenge with three minutes of regulation time remaining.
The two managers certainly didn’t agree.
“There was nothing in it. Steven has a tendency to go down quite easily at times,” was Neil Lennon’s take on it.
“Steve said there was contact and there was no reason for him to go down,” was Wright’s.
“I don’t know exactly what Neil said but I have a golden rule I don’t comment on opposition players. Maybe Neil shouldn’t comment on mine.
“If he is indicating it was simulation, I have never known him to be booked for that and players do tend to go down under a challenge. I thought it was a free-kick. I couldn’t see if it was inside the box from where I was, but I thought it was a foul.”
Saints weren’t finished after the late penalty claim, and in stoppage time Brian Easton, making his first start of the campaign, swung a cross in from the left, Gary McDonald helped it on and May did likewise. The ball came back off the post and Mackay’s shot from the rebound was kept out by Forster.
May’s first instinct was that he had snatched an equaliser.
“To be honest I thought it was in when I turned round but unfortunately it came back off the post. It was just a glance I got on it.”
He added: “We definitely came back into the game in the last 20 or 25 minutes and we might have even deserved something from the game in the end.
“As a whole, second half we can be really proud of ourselves but we know the first half wasn’t good enough.
“There was a massive change from first half to second half. In the first 45 we were sloppy and were pinned in for near enough the whole half. But we did come out of our shell after the break and as a team we got a lift.”
Celtic’s Charlie Mulgrew admitted that his team were hanging on at the death, attributing the turn of events to their own sloppiness and Saints’ determination.
It had all looked so easy for them when new boy Teemu Pukki gave them an early lead with a low shot through the legs of Frazer Wright and Alan Mannus, and Mulgrew himself added to it with a sweet 25-yarder.
“First half was a good performance,” he said.
“We created a lot of chances and scored two goals so we were happy with that. But we didn’t get hold of the ball enough in the second half and made it hard for ourselves in the end.
“There was maybe a bit of tiredness from the Milan game during the week, but I just felt it was down to us not keeping possession. St Johnstone kept coming at us and we were hanging on a bit at the end.
“It’s still a contest at 2-0. We saw that. It could easily have been a draw. We need to be on our toes and when we’re 2-0 up we need to keep pressing.
“We won the game but we’re still disappointed and that shows a good mentality.”
Wright believed his team “showed Celtic too much respect in the first half” but felt they “were unfortunate not to grab a point at the end”.
Lennon acknowledged there was a late slump from his team, but put it down to tiredness.
“It’s a fine win because St Johnstone are no pushovers,” he insisted.