PERHAPS being voted one of the four best players in Scotland was just a bit too much for Greg Stewart to handle.
A week which saw the Dundee playmaker nominated for the SPFA Player of the Year award ended in embarrassment and a dismissal for a ridiculous dive that not even Scotland's much-maligned officials could miss.
It was plain daft rather than malicious by Stewart who, as he trudged slowly off the pitch, wore the expression of a man who wasn't entirely sure why he did what he had just done.
St Johnstone were already ahead by this point and, with a man advantage for the last half hour, made sure the points returned with them to Perth and that their hopes of European football remained very much alive.
"Greg went over too easily I think it was a sending off to be honest with you," said the Dundee manager Paul Hartley.
"That's disappointing because when you are on a yellow card, you know to stay on your feet. We will now lose one of our best players for a game at least."
The St Johnstone manager, Tommy Wright, could hardly have been happier and is now eyeing up third place.
He said: "We have 51 points and three home games out of four to come. We got 53 last season. We've also had 15 wins which for a team that has scored 31 goals is remarkable.
"I don't know where we will end up. It would be great to fourth. I'm just so proud of them to finish in the top six again. If we would catch Inverness in third then that would be brilliant."
The first half was a hard watch. For too long, the only moment worthy of mentioning was a decent curled effort from St Johnstone's Danny Swanson, who was good all day, that was a little on the high side which came after seven minutes.
The crowd were given something to cheer on the half hour when as Dundee prepared to take a free-kick, referee Craig Thomson showed some nifty keepy-up skills. Who knew?
From that resultant set-piece, a shot by Paul McGowan came off Fraser Wright, the ball spun in the air and Saints goalkeeper Alan Mannus was forced into a save under his own crossbar.
At the end of the half, Dundee got another effort on target when Paul McGinn's cross was headed towards goal by Jim McAlister but the effort was never going to trouble Mannus.
St Johnstone more or less dominated after the break and their first goal came on 52 minutes.
As he did in the first-half, Swanson cut in from the left onto his right foot and produced a good effort from an angle. St Johnstone striker Steven MacLean went for a header and missed, but his presence seemed to put off Dundee keeper Scott Bain who allowed the ball to bounce on its way into the bottom corner.
The home side tried to respond immediately through a David Clarkson shot on the turn from 18-yards which was smothered by Mannus.
But then on 63 minutes, Stewart had his moment on madness.
Already on a booking for catching Murray Davidson in the first-half, he threw himself into the St Johnstone penalty box as Wright held off on making a challenge in an attempt to con referee Thomson, who wasn't buying his antics for a second.
With his dismissal so went Dundee's chances. St Johnstone's second duly arrived on 67 minutes.
David Wotherspoon's bending left foot shot would have gone in any way, but Dundee substitute Ian Davidson stuck out a leg in an effort to block the shot and only succeeded in planting the ball firmly in his own net.
The impressive Swanson's runs were causing all sorts of problems and while James McPake went close with a free-kick with ten minutes to go, Dundee were never going to score. Indeed, McLean missed with a header from a few yards out that would have made it 3-0.
For Hartley, it was a day to forget. He said: "That was our worst performance of the season by far. I wasn't pleased at all."
Dundee (4-4-2): Bain; McGinn, Konrad (Davidson 45), McPake, Dyer; Stewart, Thomson, McGowan, McAlister; Heffernan (Tankulic 57), Clarkson (Wigton 64)
St Johnstone (4-4-2): Mannus; Miller, Mackay, Wright, Scobbie; Wotherspoon, Swanson (Caddis 86) Davidson (Brown 80), Millar; Graham (O'Halloran 72), MacLean
Referee: Craig Thomson
Attendance: 6530
Man of the match: Danny Swanson (St Johnstone)
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