Davidson admits that Saints paid a high price for Bryson’s dismissal

CALLUM DAVIDSON last night insisted Craig Bryson’s first-half sending-off cost St Johnstone a precious three points.

The Perth men were leading 1-0 through Liam Gordon’s 40th-minute opener when Bryson picked up a booking for going in late on Joe Newell and was sent packing for a second cautionable offence after a bad tackle on Ryan Porteous earlier in the game.

With Saints down to ten men, they eventually buckled in the face of relentless pressure and conceded twice in the last ten minutes to Kevin Nisbet and substitute Jamie Murphy to leave themselves just a point clear of the relegation play-off place.

‘Ultimately, the sending-off has cost us the game,’ said Davidson. ‘It was two bookings. It is unlike Craig to do that. Unfortunately, it put our backs against the wall.

‘Craig knows himself. We don’t need to tell him after getting ourselves in a good position in the game which was always going to be tight and tough.

‘To go a man down made it really difficult for us second half, when the lads put a lot of effort in. I’m pretty disappointed.

‘I thought we were going to get there in the end by sort of limiting them to chances. We were sloppy for their last goal.’

Hibs boss Jack Ross was delighted to see Nisbet, who had two goals disallowed, notch the equaliser after a barren spell of late and admitted that he has never lost belief in the

24-year-old Scotland striker.

‘Kevin has had a difficult period but he knows how much faith I have in him. He’s still young and I thought he was excellent in his overall play,’ said Ross.

‘He was unfortunate maybe to have the first one disallowed. It was a very close decision. I have not looked at the second one yet, but to keep coming back and produce that finish for the equaliser is what he does.’

Ross also made no attempt to disguise his relief at ending a run of five defeats in the league. ‘The result was the be-all and end-all, but it was a really good performance as well,’ he added.

‘This period has been one in which we needed to have trust. I spoke about it in the lead-up to the game. When you lose that number of games consecutively, sometimes you feel within the group that they are losing faith in what you do.

‘It has not felt like that. They have been upbeat and bright, and I think they showed that, even in the first half.

‘In the second, I thought we were excellent other than a short period around the 70-minute mark when it got a bit frantic, but we created a lot of opportunities.

‘Taking them was the frustration but we got there.

‘In the second half, with the way we were so dominant, meant it was tailor-made for Jamie Murphy and Scott Allan. That’s what Scott gives us either starting or coming off the bench. In the right circumstances, he’ll always be part of what we do.’