It is perhaps for the best that no Irn-Bru apparatchiks overheard Ian McCall�s assessment of the entertainment value in Perth on Saturday afternoon.

It is perhaps for the best that no Irn-Bru apparatchiks overheard Ian McCall's assessment of the entertainment value in Perth on Saturday afternoon.

"It was a crap game," offered the Partick Thistle manager unprompted after mooching into the media room. "I don't want to watch football like that - it was rubbish."

Scotland's finest purveyors of ginger may have poured a fizzy seven-figure sum into the SFL but while girders were not lacking in a stolid encounter, everything else the aesthete would desire was.

Between them, goalkeepers Alan Main and Jonny Tuffey fielded just one effort on target - an angled half volley by Kenny Deuchar - aside from an unseemly rash of goals in the final quarter.

It was not one for the purist. Or for the 2895 who handed over eye-popping quantities of the folding stuff.

That said, every so often the torpor would be broken by a flash, hint or promise of ability. Problem was, it was invariably followed by a sclaff, shank or scuff. One delightful first half backheel exchange between Partick's Mark Roberts and Stevie Murray sent the latter scampering to the bye-line. His cross, alas, cannoned off the first defender.

Still, another of these rare vignettes yielded what was ultimately the winning goal.

St Johnstone had three minutes previously finally overcome the pervading impotence, striker Deuchar flicking a near-post Paul Sheerin corner into the net, and that unlikely breakthrough was burnished by a spot of execution that Albert Pierrepoint would have been proud of.

David Weatherston, a lively home substitute, scampered down the flank and, although he ceded possession, the ball broke to Rocco Quinn 30 yards from goal. The magnificently preened midfielder, on-loan from Celtic was perpendicular to the goal but calmly caressed a side-foot finish across Tuffey and into the far corner.

Even McCall bowed to its beauty, but he was unrepentant about the wider context. "For 80 minutes today it was an absolutely shocking game of football," he reiterated. "It should have been a 0-0 draw; it was absolutely rubbish to watch. There was a lack of spark in the whole game and after watching Scotland I thought that was dreadful."

His gloom briefly dissipated as Thistle - hitherto hapless in attack - threatened a late riposte. Liam Buchanan, whose interval introduction at least occupied the home back three, was awarded a goal after the ball rattled against him in the area as he foraged for scraps.

But that was about as good as it got, despite Owen Coyle, the St Johnstone manager's protestations to the contrary. Murray claimed a late penalty when Gary Irvine carelessly stumbled into him but the disenchanted McCall was not even in the mood to claim it.

"The boys are saying it was a definite penalty," he admitted. "But I was quite a long way from it and players have been known to lie about these things before . . ."