St Johnstone 0-0 Inverness CT: Points shared but Saints go fourth

Published on 09/04/2012 02:58

ST JOHNSTONE midfielder Liam Craig is adamant his side should have had a penalty in Saturday’s goalless draw with Inverness.

Referee Kevin Clancy infuriated McDiarmid Park manager Steve Lomas when he failed to penalise Roman Golobart for a challenge on Fran Sandaza. Craig was close to the incident and insisted television footage backed up Saints’ spot-kick claims. He said: “The referee is only three or four yards away and I don’t know how he can’t give a penalty. Apparently he said the defender played the ball before Fran. Well, I have watched it back on the video and there’s no doubt he takes Fran out first.”

Despite being held to a draw, St Johnstone moved up to fourth in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League after Dundee United lost at Aberdeen.

And Craig admits the Perth club’s superb campaign has already exceeded their expectations.

He said: “It was frustrating not to win but we need to get on with it. We’re fourth going into the split and that’s brilliant for the club.

“It says a lot about how far we have progressed that we are disappointed not to have even more points.”

Lomas felt a draw was probably the right result and was happy with his side’s solid defensive showing.

He said: “If you keep a clean sheet, you always take something from a game and it’s been key to our good form. We went through a spell of conceding too many but we have sorted that out and I was pleased with the back four again.

“Alan Maybury did really well at left-back against Jonny Hayes and I was delighted for him.”

Inverness manager Terry Butcher was pleased with his side’s performance but admitted it’s been a strange campaign for the Highlanders.

He said: “It’s been such a bizarre season for us. If you want to finish in the top six, everything has to go right for you. But everything has gone wrong for us. We haven’t taken any steps forward but we are still in there fighting.”