The St Johnstone players didn’t hold back with each other after they let two points slip through their fingers at Fir Park, according to Liam Gordon.
And the Perth captain believes the dressing room exchanged words are a sign of the high standards they’ve set at McDiarmid Park over the last couple of months.
Backing up a midweek home win with a Saturday away draw was a good week’s work for Saints.
But a determination to eradicate end-of-game defensive slackness will help ensure that Saints’ form keeps trending in the right direction.
“It’s bitterly disappointing to lose a goal like that so late on,” said Gordon. “It feels like a loss.
“But when the dust settles, it’s a decent point on the road.
“It could be a big point at the end of the season and that’s another game where there were positives for us to take.
“They’d thrown a lot of big boys on and they were going direct but it felt like we’d dealt with that well.
“Switching off in those last few minutes has cost us.
“There’s a real determination in that dressing room to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
“A few words were said.
“It’s raw after a game and I like to see boys having a go at each other.
Motherwell result shows ‘character’, says Liam Gordon
“It shows the character that we’ve got and that nobody is happy at settling for a point on the road.
“That’s where we’re at as a group.
“It’s because the boys care and have a real passion and desire to win games of football and make sure the team keeps improving.”
The skipper added: “Everybody’s singing from the same hymn sheet.
“Our dressing room is a good place to be and I’m really positive about the future.
“It’s a busy December. This will be a massive month. A lot will be defined by the time we get to the end of it.
“We feel that we’re in a much better place as a group now.
“We’ve got momentum and we need to keep that going.
“Although this feels like a loss, it isn’t.
“We’ll be ready to go again at home next week (against Hibs), where we’ve done well recently, and hopefully we’ll get ourselves the win this time.”
‘Good turnaround’ for St Johnstone
Saints were a couple of minutes away from being ninth and seven points clear of 12th place.
Three wins and two draws out of their seven matches since they changed managers has been the sort of sustained run of form that would have been gratefully accepted at the start of November, though.
“It’s been a good turnaround from where we were a couple of months ago,” said Gordon.
“We know it could have been even better because that’s twice against Motherwell that we’ve been ahead and only drawn.
“We’re five points clear of the bottom but it could have been nine.
“For that to be the case in such a short space of time, shows how much we’ve progressed.
“Personally I’ve been happy with my form and collectively it’s been good as well.
“Everyone knows their jobs.
“If they don’t do it they’ll get told or they won’t play.
“There’s clarity between everyone and that’s been a big thing for us.”
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