Callum Davidson heaped praise on his Perth players after a huge three points in their Premiership fight.
Hard-working St Johnstone moved off the bottom of the table on Saturday following a 2-1 home win against third-placed Hearts.
Ali Crawford capped off a beautiful move to open the scoring after just one minute before Nathaniel Atkinson levelled the game moments later.
But centre-half Jamie McCart nodded in the winner after the break to spark celebratory scenes on the park and in the stands.
Davidson said: “I thought in the first 70 minutes we were really good. The first goal was superb. It’s about being positive and it was easy to be that way today.
“It’s great to see, it was back to enjoying watching them play again and seeing their desire to go and do things.
“As a defender I enjoy blocking tackles and crosses. Too easily we’ve let crosses come in and we gave help to the back three and the keeper.
“At home we struggled for some form but Hallberg was outstanding for 70 minutes along with the rest of the players.
“Elliott made some great saves and got us the three points.”
The Perth boss is sure the confidence is coming back and is urging his players to keep hold of the positive momentum.
He said: “You can see the confidence coming back – I saw it coming after the Kelty game and now we all want to start climbing the league and putting teams under pressure.
“It’s a massive three points relative to the season but it’s only three points so let’s get some more.
“Hopefully we get two or three more back for next Saturday. We can only affect ourselves. The performances have been coming and I’ll be looking to repeat this.
“If we can perform like that I’ll be a happy man because we’ll climb the league.
“I’ve seen it coming, they’ve proved they’re a good team. They lost belief in November and December but the new players have helped them.”
