First, the stark facts from this keenly- contested encounter which do make for good reading at Aberdeen.
The Dons have won just one of their last eight league games against the Perth side and, more concerning for those in the red and white favours, their team came up short in their efforts to climb into second place in the Ladbrokes Premiership.
An impressive team performance by the visitors saw to that as they controlled much of the game and refused to allow the energy – never mind home advantage – of their opponents to enter the equation.
The Dons, hot from their 5-1 romp against Kilmarnock four days earlier, needed to win the three games in their current sequence – ending against Motherwell at Pittodrie on Tuesday night – to hoist themselves above Rangers, but that was an aim that never looked like happening yesterday.
Tommy Wright, the St Johnstone manager, was entitled to feel disappointed his side never grabbed full points as he pointed to a superb David Wotherspoon free-kick from distance late in the game, which whizzed slightly past the post, as a potential match-winner.
“It was a really good performance individually and collectively,” he said. “Tactically, we were spot-on and Aberdeen had to change their shape to go two up front.
“So overall it was a good day and another good away performance.
“We’ve been to Ibrox and Tynecastle now and probably should have won and now we’ve been up here and should have won. But we’ll take the point and have to be happy with that.”
Wright refused to place too much importance on the absence of Danny Swanson, a star performer for Saints this season but who missed the Pittodrie game because of a hip injury.
“Danny is an important member of the team,” he said, “but we don’t put him on a pedestal. You can’t rely on one player. He is an important player but we’ve managed to cope without him previously and we did again.”
Ryan Jack, returning to the Dons team after a one-game suspension following his two yellow cards against Rangers at Ibrox a week earlier, was given the right-back berth while St Johnstone went into this fixture unbeaten in their previous three league trips to Pittodrie in which they scored seven goals.
It should have been an eighth after 19 minutes when the visitors broke to send the Dons defence into a a flap as Steven MacLean’s low ball to the near post was helped across the area by Chris Kane, only for Murray Davidson’s attempt to fail to finish from 10 yards to fail.
The hosts wasted no time in mounting an attack of their own and moments later Niall McGinn’s corner was headed high over the bar by Andrew Considine to disappoint their supporters. Peter Pawlett’s 25-yard strike, which slipped past the post, raised their hopes again.
It became clear that The Perth outfit were prepared to adopt a cat and mouse approach to proceedings and proved adept at breaking up Aberdeen’s raids almost at will with their defenders and defensive midfielders – Davidson and Liam Craig – doing a competent job in protecting goalkeeper Zander Clark.
ADerek McInnes, their manager, later bemoaned a lack of intelligence in his team’s play. “In general, we didn’t bring enough thought or quality at times,” he said.
“The games against St Johnstone are a bit stop-start but we didn’t have enough tempo to the game.
“We had to show more composure and we allowed ourselves to get frustrated.
“We got a clean sheet when we weren’t at our best and got a point against a decent opponent. To beat teams like St Johnstone we have to be better.”
It would have been worse for him had Graham Cummins not hooked his close-range effort over the bar or if Joe Lewis, Aberdeen’s keeper, hadn’t touched MacLean’s ferocious 30-yard strike into the Merkland Road stand.
And, when Graeme Shinnie’s pass-back to Lewis fell short ten minutes from time, substitute Blair Alston’s stabbing effort slipped past the post with the Dons keeper beaten.
It was a piece of much-needed drama followed two minutes from the end with a stunning Wotherspoon free-kick that was too close for Aberdeen’s comfort.
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