JOHN Hughes, the Inverness Caledonian Thistle manager, accused referee Andrew Dallas of being "out of his depth" after a game that yielded 10 bookings in total, one of which led to a red card.
The SFA may well ask Hughes to clarify his comments, not that there was much need for any clarification in his post-match press conference. It was pretty clear what he meant.
Dallas was perhaps a bit fussy, but in fairness to him there were a number of poor tackles and Inverness defender David Raven deserved his two cautions, the first for putting a hand on Dallas which other officials may have taken stronger action against and he did trip Danny Swanson for his second.
Not that Hughes saw it this way. He said: "We did mention at half-time that we had to watch what we were doing because the referee was lively. To be honest, I think he had a poor match and I felt he was out of his depth to tell you the truth.
"For what we are going for, which is a European place, I think we deserve a little bit better than that. He's just a young kid, learning his trade. I understand that he has to get experience. But we need to look at that because I've never seen so many bookings.
"He came over to talk to me because he was telling me to calm down. I was saying to take it easy because I knew what was coming. If you give out cards for nothing then the inevitable is going to happen.
"Unfortunately it came our way and David, a good honest boy, got sent off. The only booking I saw was when Murray Davidson clattered David and he retaliated. And it spoils the game. We just take it and get on with it."
The draw means Inverness can more or less clinch third place if they beat Dundee United at home on Tuesday night. St Johnstone, however, were the better team overall and still harbour hopes of a European place.
The home side and Swanson in particular were right at it from the start. The former Dundee United man, on loan from Coventry City, is a talent and the Inverness defenders decided to double up on him after his first run took him past three opponents.
But they lost him on eight minutes when a corner was played to the winger at the edge of the box. He took a touch and then sent his curling shot towards goal, only to see the ball rattle the crossbar.
Inverness slowly got themselves into the game and came close themselves on 16 minutes when Aaron Doran's shot from an angle was just a little high. A minute later, St Johnstone goalkeeper Alan Mannus was made to work as he got both hands to a Jim Vincent effort from 20 yards.
The lively Swanson did his best to create something on 38 minutes when his run took him deep into St Johnstone territory and after riding a couple of challenges his clever pass gave Michael O'Halloran a clear shot at goal which he couldn't put on target.
Just two minutes later, Inverness left-back Danny Williams found himself 25 yards from the St Johnstone goal and fancied himself to break the deadlock with a fine shot, which was kept our rather unconvincingly by Mannus.
The Perth men should have taken the lead within two minutes of the restart. Great one touch football by Davidson and Dave Mackay allowed David Wotherspoon to get into the box. His cross was just missed by Steven MacLean, the ball came back to O'Halloran who from five yards managed to out his shot well over. The striker had his head in hands while the ball was still travelling
St Johnstone looked to be taking a grip of the game, but then Inverness ran up the park and scored on 55 minutes.
Raven did well to force his way down the right and then pull his cross back toward the edge of the box where Doran was and he produced an excellent finish that saw the ball nestle in top corner via the underside of the crossbar.
And just as it seemed the result was destined to go the way of the visitors, St Johnstone conjured up an equaliser with five minutes to go.
Superb play on the wing by Tam Scobbie and Wotherspoon, who had come onto a fine match, saw the former send in a great cross which substitute Brian Graham guided into the net with a fine header.
"Our performance was excellent and we didn't get the breaks, "said Tommy Wright, the St Johnstone manager "I'm delighted we played so well against one of the top teams.
"Can we finish third? The big game will be on Tuesday night between Inverness and United, who we still have to play. If we keep playing like that then we will be there or thereabouts. But it is out of our hands in terms of catching Inverness."
St Johnstone (4-4-2): Mannus; Miller, Mackay, Anderson Scobbie; Davidson (Graham 75), Millar, Wotherspoon Swanson, O'Halloran, MacLean (McFadden 72)
Inverness Caledonian Thistle (4-4-2) Esson; Raven, Warren, Meekings, Shinnie; Tansey, Vincent, Doran (Devine 75), Williams; Ofere, Watkins
Referee: Andrew Dallas
Attendance: 2986
Man of the match: David Wotherspoon (St Johnstone)
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