Optimism was the word at McDiarmid park on Saturday. Despite failing to cash in on a game they dominated there was plenty to be cheerful about for St Johnstone following their stalemate with Dundee United.

While admitting his side were disappointed to have not won a match they more than deserved too, Murray Davidson was quick to praise his team’s progress from earlier in the season. The midfielder’s disciplined performance in front of the back three freed up his side’s attacking abilities, but they couldn’t find a way past Benjamin Siegrist in the United goal.

“I think they started better than us for the first 10/15 minutes,” admitted the one-time Scotland cap. “But if you take that away we’ve dominated the game. {We’ve got a} clean sheet which we’ve been looking to improve on, I thought we limited them to very few chances, but I don’t think anyone can say we didn’t dominate that game.”

“Probably at the start of the season we might have lost that game 1-0, right now we’re disappointed because we feel we’ve done enough, we’ve got in enough good areas and had enough chances to win the game, and you look at last week every shot that you hit goes in and you win 5-3, so It’s frustrating.

Anyone that watched that game today, you can see the positives and see what we’re trying to do.” Perhaps the game’s best chance fell to Davidson in the dying embers of the match, after losing his man at a corner he was able to use his ariel prowess to power a header towards goal which was turned away expertly by Siegrist.

“I’m so close and I know I’ve lost my marker and I’m just trying to get good contact on it,” admitted Davidson. “I just think hit the target. I feel like I got good contact on it so right now I’m just disappointed I didn’t score it, to be fair to the ‘keeper he’s made a good save.”

The rest of the game followed a similar pattern, with Saints relentless but ultimately unsuccessful in pursuit of a goal. They had opportunities fall to David Wotherspoon and Scott Tanser but neither could convert. To the hosts’ credit, they looked like a side who would have no issues in creating chances throughout the season.

That wasn’t the story for Dundee United for whom failing to register a shot on target is becoming an all too familiar recurrence. They only managed one effort on goal against Aberdeen last weekend and Marc McNulty’s early shot which sailed over the bar was their sole endeavour on Zander Clark’s goal on Saturday.

Micky Mellon fielded McNulty up top with Lawrence Shankland and Nicky Clark, but United struggled to progress the ball to their front three. They’ve have shown their attacking abilities in certain outings this season, but in recent Premiership games they have mustered only a handful of meaningful chances.

There are still positives to take for the Tannadice outfit though, another clean sheet was achieved on Saturday and despite heavy defeats to Kilmarnock and Rangers earlier in the campaign they have looked hard to break down. And as referenced by Mellon post-match, they are not short of talent at the top end of the pitch.

One of the men responsible for that defensive resolve, captain and defender Mark Reynolds, reiterated the importance of United’s solidity after the final whistle.

He said: “We know that the game was going to be tough, I think in other games we were giving away easy goals and we’ve looked to try and be more resolute and solid and I think we’ve shown that in the last couple of games.

“It’s still a process, we’re still a team in transition and just getting used to working under a new manager and finding our feet. Now we’ve go that {defensive} platform to build on we’re still working on getting forward and getting chances and goals. We’re very much still a work in progress.”