Stephen Robinson insisted he wouldn’t hang Charles Dunne out to dry after his red card proved costly against Celtic.
The Buddies were hoping to pull off a second successive home win against Ange Postecoglou’s side yesterday afternoon and were leading the Hoops thanks to Mark O’Hara’s early penalty.
But centre-back Dunne’s clumsy challenge saw St Mirren reduced to ten men for the second half, with the league leaders eventually cruising to a 5-1 victory after the break.
Robinson said the experienced defender wouldn’t be too heavily chastised but admitted playing against Celtic with 10 men for so long was always going to be a tough task.
He told Renfrewshire Live Sport: “The red card changed the game entirely. Celtic are a very difficult proposition to play against with 11 men, let alone 10 men.
“We made the perfect start and it was our perfect scenario, going one up and forcing them to commit men forward which then allows us to hit on the break.
“We were in total control but one poor decision cost us. Ultimately, in the second half, there were three or four goals that were more down to decision-making, not being down to ten men. They wore us down and we made tired decisions for the goals.
“We’ll reset the boys. There’s no blame game here. Ultimately, I pick the players, so I’ll take the blame.
“We couldn’t get up the pitch and get a foothold in the game. It became a case of damage limitation for our goal difference.
“Charles is human and everyone makes mistakes. No one gets hung out to dry at this club. He’s been excellent for us this season.”
Despite the heavy defeat at the SMiSA, St Mirren are still in the top six and have an appetising trip to face struggling Dundee United in two weeks’ time.
Robinson is confident his Buddies will be champing at the bit to get going again heading into the business end of their campaign before the split.
He said: “We need to make sure that defeat doesn’t define our season. We’re still in control of our destiny.
“I don’t have to do too much to pick the boys up. They believe in what they do and in the first 45 minutes I felt we were in control of the game.
“We can’t do anything about it now, it’s gone. The boys will have a couple of days off, we will come back and work hard and we have a couple of weeks before our next game.
“So, this will be done and dusted and forgotten very quickly.”
Ange Postecoglou meanwhile was delighted to see his Hoops eventually run rings around St Mirren — as he knew his men faced a tough shift in Paisley.
Celtic avenged the Buddies’ 2-0 win in September, eventually putting them to the sword in part thanks to Dunne’s dismissal.
Postecoglou was pleased his side stuck to their mission to come away with three points as they continue to push for the league title.
He said: “We knew it was going to be a challenging game for us. St Mirren, particularly at home, have been difficult to deal with for all sides.
“With the decision going against us early we had to maintain our composure, which I thought for the most part the boys did well. It’s very easy to get caught up in the game at that point but we continued to try and maintain our football and we created some good chances.
“Kyogo gets headlines for his goals but his ability to press opposition defenders and not give them a moment’s peace, we got the reward for that.
“The second half we stayed clear-headed about what we needed to do. They didn’t change too much, they stayed deep. We were just better at maintaining our composure. The guys who came on were outstanding and it was a good job in the end.”
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