Callum Davidson applauds St Johnstone’s defeat in Aberdeen

The hosts were reduced to 10 men within minutes of kick-off when Andrew Considine was sent on for thwarting a clear scoring opportunity and although the Dons dominated the ball the Saints defended tenaciously before pressing themselves towards the end.

Graeme Shinnie’s red card for the visitors resulted in a frenetic final in Perth and, although the home side suffered defeat, Davidson was able to take advantage of the team’s performance.

The referee was called to the pitchside monitor after initially awarding a penalty for Considine’s tackle, but after a second look a free-kick was awarded instead when the defender took an early bath.

“It’s difficult, we would have preferred to give away the penalty and Andy would have stayed on the pitch because we ended up playing 92 minutes with 10 men,” Davidson said.

“I have not seen it yet. He was quick to give the penalty when it was outside the box so that was the wrong decision. And I thought some of the bookings… well, I’m not going to start.

CONTINUE READING: St Johnstone 0 Aberdeen 1: Considine birthday card leaves Saints briefly in Perth

“I’d rather just talk about the players’ reaction because we weren’t happy with our start at Kilmarnock in the last game.

“It was a tough afternoon for the players but I thought they were brilliant. They kept their form, their discipline and they created chances. It’s disappointing that we didn’t catch anything from the game because they put so much into it.

“When you go to 10 men you can’t go straight into it, you have to stay in the game and pick your moments.

“I felt the substitutes were good when they came on, they influenced the game and we had some chances.

“As the game progressed Aberdeen got nervous, we limited them in the second half and created chances – it’s just a shame we didn’t take any of them.”