GUTTED St Johnstone manager Callum Davidson didn’t even celebrate Alex Mitchell’s late leveller for his side against Celtic, as he always worried that a sucker punch might yet be coming from the Premiership champions.
His fears proved well founded, as Giorgos Giakoumakis popped up to break his team’s hearts in the 95th minute and leave the Saints with no reward for grinding their way back into the game.
Despite that sickener though, Davidson was proud of the efforts of his team in running Ange Postecoglou’s men so close in the end.
"I actually didn't celebrate the goal, I didn't know if it would be wise or not,” Davidson said.
“I didn't celebrate because there was still two minutes to go. "I was surprised Mitch had actually scored as it's the first time he's hit the target in either training or a game, so I'm gutted for the lads for not taking anything from the game as I thought that was something we deserved. "I'm just really annoyed at how we lost the last goal. "In the first half I thought that tactically we were really good. I thought the boys worked unbelievably hard to stop Celtic. "Celtic are brilliant at getting the ball in behind and firing balls across the face of goal and we tried to stop that, but we switched off in the 42nd minute. We conceded the own-goal and it was a really poor time to concede the goal. "Our heads could easily have gone down but we rallied again and we asked them to stay in the game for as long as they can. "We knew we would get chances and I thought the substitutions helped us. We had a real go in the second half and in those last couple of minutes we have to defend better.
“It's a hard lesson to take but I will also take that level of performance against the Old Firm.
“I will take those energy levels and that commitment and desire to go and try to get something from the game.
“There are a lot of positives to take but at the same time, I don't know if the word is annoyed…I don't think it's printable.”
