St Johnstone captain Liam Gordon admitted that the Perth side were “terrible” and “embarrassing” in exiting the Scottish Cup at Airdrie.
But the defender is confident that the lacklustre performance in their first game back after the mid-season break isn’t a sign of things to come in the Premiership.
“Andy (Kirk) and the gaffer spoke for a long time in the dressing room,” said Gordon.
“There were strong words but they were calm.
“Barring the first 20 minutes at Kilmarnock, that’s the worst we’ve been.
“We’ve got two options going forward – sink or swim.
“We’ve been in this sort of position before and come back from it.
“It’s the first game back. Let’s hope that game will be put behind us.
“We’ve got a chance on Wednesday against Aberdeen to put in a good performance and bounce back.
“Today wasn’t good enough but I’m confident that it will be a tiny dent and we’ll be better for it.
“We’re building and there’s a lot more to come.”
Unacceptable
Saints barely had a chance in a contest that was littered with errors and lacked any sort of attacking fluency from a Perth perspective.
There was certainly more bad than good for the skipper to mull over.
His verdict?
“Terrible,” said Gordon. “Embarrassing.
“We had an OK first five or 10 minutes but after we made a few mistakes it felt like we went under a wee bit.
“That’s just not acceptable.
“They out-worked us and had more energy.
“Getting out-worked as a St Johnstone side can’t happen. Working hard is what we’ve got all our success from over the years.
“Now we’re out of the cup and it’s bitterly disappointing.”
Gordon added: “When we were getting out and playing passes forward nothing was sticking.
“First touches were poor, lay-offs were poor.
“It turned into a basketball match that we had no control over.
“Before the break we were playing through midfield, getting behind teams, putting in crosses and creating chances.
“In this game we kept giving the ball away and it meant they were countering on us all the time.”
St Johnstone boss Craig Levein refuses to use rustiness as an excuse after ‘tough watch’ in Airdrie https://t.co/W9elKHuCsl pic.twitter.com/UU1EFC2bog
— The Courier Sport (@thecouriersport) January 20, 2024
Like his manager, Gordon refused to hide behind rustiness built up as a result of three-and-a-half weeks between matches.
“We’re more than good enough to come back after a break and win this game,” he said.
“We had a really good week and-a-half on the training pitch.
“We were excited about this game but we were nowhere near it.”
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