St Johnstone manager Callum Davidson believes his team’s second half efforts at Celtic Park were a mark of the Perth side’s progress this season.
When Davidson’s men fell four goals behind after a one-sided hour of football, there were flashbacks of the 7-0 thrashing that was inflicted upon them in April.
And, with Saints still sitting fifth in the Premiership table after the Christmas Eve fixtures were completed, the McDiarmid Park boss is confident that there will be no hangover from the defeat that ended a six-game unbeaten run.
“I’ll take responsibility for going with two strikers,” said Davidson.
“We went with an attacking formation and wanted to press them high.
“Celtic played in the pockets of space and got the ball in behind us.
“On the defensive side we probably didn’t work hard enough across the pitch and stop Callum McGregor getting on the ball.
“Once we found ourselves 3-0 down at half-time it was about making sure it was a respectable scoreline.
“We changed the formation and got a goal back before the game died at the end.
“We’ve been on a really good run of form and we’ll box this one off and move on.
“I knew we could sustain the energy over the whole game because we had a strong bench and I was pleased with the character we showed in the second half.
“Last year we might have got beaten 7-0.
“There’s more resilience in the team now.”
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