Dan Phillips thought his St Johnstone team-mates were playing a joke when he found the captain’s armband waiting for him in the away dressing room at Celtic Park.
But once he realised it was no Parkhead prank, the “privilege” of leading Saints for the first time sunk in.
And after the side he skippered produced their best performance of the season to earn a precious point against the Premiership champions, he’s hoping to get the honour again.
“Do you know what? I went into the changing room before the game and saw the armband in my place,” said the Trinidad and Tobago international.
“I thought someone was taking the p**s out of me! I thought the boys were having a laugh!
“But it’s a privilege.
“It shows the manager has faith in me and I’d like to think I repaid it.
“Hopefully it’s not a one-off and it’s something that can happen going forward.
“I’ve tried to add leadership qualities to my game and drive standards in training.
“But I’ve always said there should be 11 captains on the pitch and I thought there were against Celtic. Everyone doing their job and everyone talking.”
Pride and a point
The 22-year-old added: “I’m very, very proud.
“It was a big performance from all of the boys, especially the ones who came in and made their debuts.
“New faces bring competition and raise standards in training.
“Boys know they have to lift their levels and keep pushing if they want to play.
“I think we got what we deserved at the end of the game.
“We’re a team that gets written off.
“We know the last few games weren’t good enough and we had to make a statement.
“This is something to build on.
“We can’t let our levels drop below that.
“This is the bare minimum now.
“Defensively we were really tight and really good and we have more to come with the ball as well.”
Phillips admitted he was beginning to get greedy as the match progressed and Saints were turning defence into counter-attack with a rising purpose.
“I definitely thought we could have got all three points,” he said. “I was almost up the pitch with Mayso celebrating (when he was through on goal)!
“We had a chance from a corner and Dara (Costelloe) has done really well in a one-v-one. I felt we were always a threat.
“As the game went on, we grew in confidence and just kept on going at it.
“It was a collective determination that we weren’t going to concede.”
Post-Dingwall response
MacLean couldn’t find fault with his players after Saturday’s game but it was a different story in Dingwall a fortnight ago.
“We know our standards,” said Phillips. “So the manager could have gone in there and said nothing and we would have known it wasn’t good enough.
“All the boys have responded in the right way. Positive. We got on the training pitch and have been at it 100 per cent.”
▶️ Celtic were held to a 0-0 draw against St Johnstone and are now only a point ahead of Rangers before next week’s Old Firm ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/34uByamevZ
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) August 26, 2023
Nobody has impressed more for Saints this season than new goalkeeper, Dimitar Mitov.
“He’s unbelievable,” said Phillips. “Bulgaria’s number one!
“I thought Remi (Matthews) was unbelievable last season and it’s tough to replace a goalkeeper like that.
“But it looks like we have another amazing keeper. He is very vocal, commanding, comes and claims crosses. We’re really happy with him.”
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