St Johnstone need to learn a quick lesson to make sure they are at their best for their clash with Dundee United in the new year, according to manager Callum Davidson.
The Perth boss wasn’t happy with the start his team made in their 3-2 defeat to Hearts.
And he believed going two goals down in the first half-hour cost them the chance of taking something from the McDiarmid Park clash.
It’s United up next on Monday and Davidson has warned his players that edging their way into another game won’t do.
“It was maybe a little lesson for us tonight,” he said.
“I thought we were really poor for the first 25 minutes.
“Against a team like Hearts you can’t give them a two goal head start then you decide to start playing.
“After that it was an entertaining game – and the substitutes can take a lot of credit – but we can’t play like we did in the first 25 minutes against the third team in the league and expect to win the match.
“Dundee United are a good team but every game is as hard as each other.
“If we start as we finished this one we’ll have a chance of winning it.
“We need to concentrate on ourselves and learn our lesson.”
There were three penalties in the game.
Lawrence Shankland and Stevie May both scored but Graham Carey missed just before half-time, with Davidson admitting that was a real opportunity passed up.
“Them scoring a penalty and us missing one in the first half were big moments obviously,” he said.
“We did a lot of things well in the second half but you can’t start like we did.”
Melker Hallberg went off with a hamstring injury in the first half and Davidson said it was too early to determine whether the Swede will be ruled out for Monday.
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