St Johnstone drew with St Mirren and just about kept alive their hopes of making the top six.
The Perth men came within a few minutes of beating their Paisley opponents despite playing more than half the game a man light as a result of Dan Phillips being sent off.
Super sub Zak Rudden headed home a 75th minute opener, his first for Saints, which was cancelled out by Alex Gogic 10 minutes later.
And it was one of those occasions when supporters leaving McDiarmid Park would be divided over whether this was a good or a bad point.
Key moments
Phillips’ challenge on Ryan Flynn barely looked worthy of a yellow in real time.
The dreadful McDiarmid playing surface probably had an impact on him not controlling a ball to his usual high standard.
There was no force or intent when he then tried to keep hold of it at the second attempt.
Unfortunately, we’re now in the VAR world where every tackle of this type that ends up catching a player above the ankle will end up being upgraded (the Ryan Jack foul on Adam Montgomery the exception, of course).
Referee Craig Napier took virtually no time at all in reaching a conclusion to turn yellow into red.
That this didn’t turn out to be the one and only game-defining moment of the contest was a credit to 10-man Saints who kept St Mirren chances down to very few in the second half.
A draw was a perfectly acceptable result in the circumstances – and Zak Rudden’s superb headed opener was an unexpected bonus that should serve him and Saints well now that he’s off the mark – but the task of reaching the top six is probably tougher after the game than it was before it.
Player ratings
Matthews 6, Wright 7, Mitchell 6, Gordon 6, Considine 7, Montgomery 7, MacPherson 8, Phillips 5, Hallberg 6, May 6 (Rudden 7), Clark 6 (Bair).
Saints’ star man – Cammy MacPherson
MacPherson has shared the praise pretty much equally with Phillips in recent weeks but not on this occasion.
After his central midfield side-kick’s first half ordering off, he did the job of two men for over 45 minutes, ensuring Saints never got over-run in that area.
And it was MacPherson’s ball that started the move which resulted in Rudden winning a free-kick on the touch line, then his delivery on to the on-loan striker’s head from the subsequent dead ball which resulted in the goal.
All this from a man St Mirren let leave last season.
Manager under the microscope
There was one change to the team which beat Dundee United last weekend.
Despite Callum Davidson being impressed by the performance of James Brown at left centre-back, Andy Considine was restored to the starting line-up.
That the formation was the same as the previous Saturday, rather than recent home games against Rangers and Celtic, was probably a bigger point of debate.
Having three centre-halves undoubtedly helped the 10 v 11 rearguard effort in the second half – and it took a fine cross and header to earn St Mirren a point in the end.
Saints were as organised and hard to break down as you would expect of a Davidson side.
And had his substitute’s goal turned out to be the winner – two just minutes after Rudden was introduced – this would have been a day when the head coach’s big calls were vindicated.
Saints continue to look every inch a team that won’t go down or be close to it.
Whether they can find a way to bridge the gap to those above them remains unanswered though.
Man in the middle
Craig Napier is no Willie Collum and was never going to ignore the advice of his VAR colleague when he was directed to take a second look at Phillips’ foul just before the break that he initially deemed worthy merely of yellow.
More annoying for Saints supporters in the ground were the number of small decisions he got wrong.
Not a good game.
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