St Johnstone are looking “upwards” after securing back-to-back Premiership victories for the first time this season, according to manager Callum Davidson.
The Perth boss saw his side take an early lead against Livingston through a Callum Hendry penalty and then follow it up with the sort of work ethic he has long preached would get its rewards.
Not only have Saints created a six-point gap on bottom of the table Dundee, they have also opened up the possibility of catching one of the teams above them and fighting their way out of the play-off spot.
St Mirren and Aberdeen, half-a-dozen points in front of the McDiarmid Park men, may yet have cause to look over their shoulders.
“I was really pleased with that,” said Davidson.
“We got our goal early and we didn’t concede.
“It was a tough game in difficult conditions. We worked extremely hard as a group.
“So I was delighted to get three points.
“We are trying to win as many games as we can and see where it takes us.
“We were in a really difficult position after Christmas but you can see the fighting spirit is there.
“The boys are all fighting for each other and the support is there.
“We are trying to look upwards and remain positive.
“We have a tough game at Celtic next week before the split but if we try to put some pressure on the teams above us you never know what happens.”
Injury update
Davidson had to replace Tony Gallacher with Callum Booth just after the half-hour mark when the wing-back was hurt in a midfield 50-50 with Nicky Devlin but he is optimistic the injury isn’t serious.
“Hopefully Tony is OK after the tackle,” he said. “We will assess it on Monday.
“I thought there was a few strong challenges in the game. As a player I used to like them myself.
“It’s the way I like to play football.”
Hendry took an elbow to the face in earning Saints their third minute penalty but it would have taken more than that to deny him the chance of scoring his seventh goal since returning from Kilmarnock.
“Of course Callum wanted to take the penalty,” said Davidson.
“He had scored six and he’s playing with loads of confidence right now.
“I have an array of choices up front. It all looks positive going towards the end of the season.”
