GIVEN everything they had been through the day before there probably weren't too many St Johnstone players downhearted yesterday when news broke that their William Hill Scottish Cup fourth round tie away to Cowdenbeath – scheduled for tonight – had been postponed for a third time.
They will try again on Wednesday by which point Steve Lomas and his players should have fully recovered from Saturday's pulsating but draining 1-1 draw with St Mirren. Reduced to 10 men late in the first half when Steven Anderson was sent off, and then to nine midway through the second period when Chris Millar received a second booking, St Johnstone were forced into a desperate rearguard action to try to save a point.
As St Mirren piled on the pressure – throwing bodies forward in ever increasing numbers and swinging a succession of crosses into the penalty box – the visitors stood firm. And when, on the odd occasion St Mirren were able to breach their backline, they discovered in Alan Mannus a goalkeeper in stunning form. St Mirren did score once – Paul Dummett stabbed in a shot from close range – to cancel out Murray Davidson's header but having put in so much effort with just nine men, this was a draw that felt like a victory for the Perth side.
"When we went down to nine men we just had to sit in and let them have the ball," said Davidson. "It's not easy to stand off as you want to get among it but you've got to be professional. In the circumstances it felt like a win."
St Mirren will travel to Celtic Park this weekend without Lee Mair who is to serve a one-game ban and could have been without both first-choice central defenders. Marc McAusland was booked in the first half and then committed two fouls shortly afterwards, manager Danny Lennon taking him off at half-time before the player was sent off.
"My first foul on [Gregory] Tade was a booking but I've then had two fair challenges on [Steven] MacLean and the ref has given two fouls when I thought they were fine," said McAusland. "I definitely was worried he'd send me off next time.
"The gaffer took me off and said it was to save me from getting sent off. He thought the ref was trying to even it up as well. It was the right decision because Mairso is suspended for the Celtic game so if both centre-halves were banned that would have left the gaffer with a big decision as to who to play there."
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