Dundee 0 - 1 St Johnstone: Saints deprived of perfect finale but ultimate goal edges nearer

Published on Sunday 26 April 2009 22:40

IN THE end, St Johnstone's season did not have the dream conclusion of a title victory against Dundee at Dens Park, but the long-time First Division leaders still took a significant step towards the prize by defeating their Tayside rivals.

Talk of lifting the trophy against Dundee has dominated thoughts of St Johnstone's supporters in recent weeks and even manager Derek McInnes, a man who usually doesn't like to look beyond breakfast time until he's sure he guzzled down his porridge, was tantalised by the prospect in enthusiastic interviews he gave last weekend.

True to form, a home defeat to Queen of the South made it more difficult for the arithmetic to work out, although a victory at Dens coupled with defeat for Partick would secure the championship with two games remaining.

Steven Milne gave St Johnstone the most perfect of starts, poking a shot home after only two minutes following a great move between Collin Samuel and Gary Irvine which saw the latter try to shoot from an acute angle but succeed instead in teeing up his team-mate perfectly.

Effectively, that first goal ended the contest because, despite Dundee's words of defiance pre-match, nothing much materialised from them and Dens Park manager Jocky Scott was left in no doubt about the size of rebuilding job required before next season.

Goalkeeper Rab Douglas, one player who will remain in place next season, denied Saints several times with particularly good saves preventing Milne from adding another and then turning a Liam Craig free-kick round the post.

He was also fortunate to see St Johnstone captain Kevin Rutkiewicz miss a routine header seconds before half-time.

Dundee's enigmatic striker Mickael Antoine-Curier, often their best chance of a goal but, on the flip side, a liability when not in the mood, killed off any hopes his side had of getting back into the contest after the interval by hitting Martin Hardie with a crude elbow. For this indiscretion he was ordered off by referee Mike McCurry and will find his wage packet lightened by his manager.

With the game won going into the last few minutes, the 3,000-strong travelling support – who were earlier hoodwinked by the false call of a goal for Livingston at Firhill – had begun to celebrate, thinking their team were about to go six points ahead with only six still available, which would effectively hand them the trophy on the basis of a superior goal difference.

Celebrations were curtailed momentarily when news of second-placed Partick's late penalty winner against Livingston filtered through but the party soon resumed, as the Saints support realised the significance of their own result.

And so the title race rumbles on to next weekend, when Morton visit McDiarmid Park, but Saints goalkeeper Alan Main insists the team always believed this would be the case.

"There was a lot of talk before the game that if we won at Dens and Partick lost then we'd win the league," said Main. "But I can honestly say not one of the players in the dressing room thought like that and it certainly wasn't mentioned. We are focused on the job and that's winning our matches. We're not really thinking about them (Partick], we know if we win our games then it's ours. We're focused on the job and I think you could see that from the performance. We were professional and we got the job done."

"Morton next weekend will be another hard game because they're a good side and until very recently they felt they were still in it."

Main celebrated exuberantly at the end, knowing how big a step this is towards their season's goal. The small matter of also being a regular target for abuse from Dundee fans was also on his mind.

"Our fans were fantastic, they came here in numbers and they should know their support is appreciated," added Main. "I celebrated with them at the end and that was for two reasons. First, at winning the game for them because they give me really good backing every week. And secondly, when I come to Dens Park I get a lot of stick so beating Dundee is extra special for me."

Dundee will make serious changes to their squad over the summer, with a number of new players set to arrive in a bid to bolster a promotion claim for next season.

Scott has been shocked with his current team's lack of application in recent weeks and he once again attacked the flaws in their attitude.

"We never got started and the better team won, there's no doubt about that," said Scott. "I don't accept we had nothing to play for, we've got plenty to play for. These guys have their livelihoods to think about and what we saw was not good enough.

"I've spoken to Mickael about his sending off and we will be dealing with it internally."