Callum Davidson was proud of his team’s response to going a man down in their 1-0 loss at home to Aberdeen as he praised his players’ performance, even if they finished the game with nothing to show for their efforts.
The hosts were reduced to 10 men within minutes of kick-off when Andrew Considine was sent for denying a clear goal-scoring opportunity and although the Dons dominated possession, Saints defended doggedly before exerting some pressure of their own late on.
Graeme Shinnie’s red card for the visitors led to a frenetic finish in Perth and although the home players suffered a defeat, Davidson was able to draw positives from the team’s display.
The referee was called over to the pitchside monitor after initially awarding a penalty kick for Considine’s challenge but after having a second look, a free-kick was given instead as the defender went for an early bath.
“It’s a difficult one, we would rather have given the penalty away and Andy stayed on the pitch because we ended up playing 92 minutes with 10 men,” Davidson rued.
“I’ve not seen it yet. He was quick to give the penalty when it was outside the box so that was the wrong decision. And I thought some of the bookings… well, I’m not going to start.
“I’d rather just talk about the reaction we got from the players because we were not happy with the way we started at Kilmarnock in the last game.
“It was a tough afternoon for the players but I thought they were brilliant. They kept their shape, their discipline and they created chances. It’s disappointing we didn’t get anything from the game because they put so much into it.
“When you go to 10 men you can’t just go gung-ho straight away, you have to stay in the game and pick your moments.
“I felt the subs were good when they came on, they impacted the game and we had a few chances.
“As the game wore on Aberdeen got nervous, we limited them in the second half and created chances - it’s just a pity we didn’t take one of them.”
