St Johnstone 3 - 1 Falkirk: Davidson sure that Saints can hold their own in the SPL

Published on Sunday 1 November 2009 22:39

MURRAY Davidson believes St Johnstone's victory over Falkirk on Saturday is further evidence the newcomers can hold their own in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League.

A first home win of the season opened up a five-point gap to Falkirk, who are rooted to the foot of the table without a win.

Davidson struck the vital third goal in the 66th minute as he capitalised on Falkirk goalkeeper Robert Olejnik's failure to claim Liam Craig's lofted free-kick into a crowded penalty box.

The youngster's close-range header came only two minutes after half-time substitute Chris Millar had fired the home side back into the lead following Carl Finnigan's equaliser in the 48th minute.

It was only Falkirk's second goal in eight games, but they had earlier conceded the opener after just 83 seconds as Collin Samuel pounced when Brian McLean misjudged Dave Mackay's cross.

The McDiarmid Park outfit created the better chances throughout and Davidson believes the hard-earned win was long overdue after previous home draws with Motherwell and Hearts, and a narrow defeat to Rangers.

He said: "The main thing was the win and we got that, so we were just delighted to get the three points.

"The boys haven't been thinking about the fact we hadn't won in the league at home because we've been playing well. We've been confident, we've just been doing what we've been doing.

"Against Rangers, Motherwell and Hearts we were unlucky but it was up to us to show it. It's all right saying you've been unlucky but you can't be unlucky every week.

"We won during the week against Dundee United in the cup and that gave our confidence a boost, and we managed to take that into the Falkirk game.

"We're not setting ourselves any positions to target.

We'll take it game by game and, if we keep concentrating, we should be okay because we've shown in the early games that we can more than hold our own in this league."

Davidson, a summer signing from Livingston, was again an influential force in St Johnstone's midfield but the 21-year-old admitted the home side won for the first time at home despite having not performed at their peak.

He added: "It was massive to get a win, especially in front of our own fans.

We didn't play at our best but we won the game and that was massive."

For Falkirk, their failure to pick up a first league victory left assistant Alex Smith confessing there is a lot of hard work ahead for manager Eddie May and everyone else at the club. He said: "Every single person involved in the club has to pull together, but mainly the players and the management."