Callum Davidson admits watching the highs and lows of St Johnstone’s weekend victory from home was torture.
The Perth boss was unable to take his place on the McDiarmid Park touchline after testing positive for Covid-19.
But striker Callum Hendry’s dramatic stoppage time wonder goal in the 2-1 win against Motherwell was just what the doctor ordered.
Davidson said: “Saturday was torture watching on the television because I was on a delay of about a minute and a half.
“So I was on the phone to Liam Craig a lot. It was hard to know exactly what was happening, I called him and he was shouting so I thought Motherwell had scored - but it was a chance for us!
“It was difficult to go through but I have total trust in Macca, Alex, Liam and the rest of the staff to do their jobs.
“During the week we spoke a lot, we had Zoom calls and spoke a lot on the phone.
“I spoke to Macca at half-time about a few things but they know what they’re doing and when you’re watching it on TV you don’t get the full picture.
“It’s hard to get a whole idea of what the game has been like watching it on a stream so how much you can do is limited.”
Hendry had pulled Saints level in the first half and then pinged in one of the finest goals McDiarmid Park has witnessed with 91 minutes on the clock. A sweet, dipping left-footed strike from the corner of the box.
Davidson continued: “Thankfully Callum was able to step up with that superb winner for us so it wasn’t a bad day in the end! Both of Callum’s goals were superb.
“The first one was something we have worked on, getting Melker (Hallberg) wide and getting the ball in for Callum inside the area. So it was pleasing to see it come to fruition in a game like that.
“And then the second one, what more can you say about it? It was a stunning finish worthy of winning any game of football. He probably won’t score a better one like that, especially with his left foot!
“I tell the lads if they don’t shoot they won’t score, he connected with it superbly and the end result was brilliant.”
Hendry is a man playing with confidence and Davidson knows the wonder winner emphasises that.
“It was a goal only someone with loads of confidence can score,” he said.
“Callum has come back with a huge smile on his face, full of confidence and you can see that in his performances.
“People have said I shouldn’t have let him go but he needed to play and it has been the best thing for him.
“We are reaping the benefits of the time he spent at Kilmarnock building himself up again.
“Would the Callum Hendry of September have taken that shot and scored that goal? I don’t think so but now he’s flying so high he thinks he can score from anywhere. That’s all down to confidence.
“You see it in other aspects of his play too, he links the play and gets straight into the box now whereas before he was outside of it too much.
“Callum is a very good finisher but in the past he was playing in the wrong areas. Now because he’s been scoring goals, he’s getting right in there - and you have seen that with his goals.”
