3 St Johnstone talking points as Dan Phillips can increase summer options with goals and assists

St Johnstone’s clash with Rangers turned into a fairly standard Old Firm defeat and a fairly standard Old Firm scoreline.

A three-goal loss was perhaps a bit harsh on the Perth side but from the moment Philippe Clement’s men took the lead they were very comfortable in the contest.

Courier Sport picks out three talking points as minds turn to two away trips.

High stakes for Phillips

Dan Phillips being back on the pitch, from the first whistle to the last, was a welcome sight for Craig Levein and Saints fans.

The 23-year-old is certainly in the top five key men at McDiarmid Park and this game was a reminder of that.

Over the last two seasons, Phillips has always looked comfortable when he’s been matched up against multi-million pound Rangers or Celtic opponents – with the ball and against it.

That points to a player who will progress up the career ladder when he leaves Saints.

There aren’t many people who think Phillips, out of contract in the summer, will still be in Perth for the 2024/25 campaign.

It was good news for Saints’ Premiership survival hopes that a bid of substance didn’t get tabled in January.

With options opening up in the close-season, Phillips can do himself and his current club a big favour over the next few months.

Few in the league are better at protecting a ball and finding a team-mate.

But contributing with assists and goals remains a box unticked.

Matt Smith has been more effective on both those fronts, finding the net for the first time at Dens and setting up team-mates on several occasions before that.

That Phillips could comfortably fit into a Hearts, Aberdeen or Hibs starting line-up is beyond doubt.

But the Trinidad and Tobago international should have his sights set higher.

Can he emulate somebody like Glen Kamara, for example, a midfielder with a similar skillset?

With his English academy pedigree, Phillips will be on the radar of Championship clubs down south if he becomes a St Johnstone final third game-changer in the Premiership run-in.

Pay-cut for referees

Levein was joking when he said: “The referees aren’t really refereeing the game anymore. Maybe they should just get half their money.”

It was part of a wider point about re-refereeing matches from the VAR room that has become a running theme across the Premiership and during St Johnstone games, in particular.

On the controversy scale, the two penalties awarded to Rangers were nothing compared to what happened at Dens Park and in the home games against Aberdeen and Hearts.

But there is a sound point at the heart of Levein’s post-match reflections.

Only referee, Matthew MacDermid, and his Main Stand assistant will know if they thought ‘I’ll just leave this one to my VAR pal’ when Andy Considine brought down Dujon Sterling in the box.

But that was how it felt at the time.

A referee hedging his bets certainly wasn’t part of the big sell when VAR was introduced.

Crunch time

Losing three league games in a row for the first time this season shouldn’t be a source of great concern given two of those matches were against the in-form sides in the divisions, Hearts and Rangers, and the other was a late away defeat to Dundee.

Livingston winning on Saturday and their fixture list of Ross County and Motherwell up next should serve a reminder that there is plenty of life left in the battle to avoid automatic relegation, let alone to avoid the play-off.

The worst-case scenario would be Livi elevating themselves to within just two points of Saints by the time teams meet at McDiarmid Park at the start of March.

There are only 12 games left and it feels like the run-in is beginning.

Levein’s side can make life a whole lot easier for themselves by turning chunks of a good game in their last three outings into a complete performance.