St Johnstone boss, Simo Valakari, believes his team passed a character test to keep their Premiership great escape alive.
The Perth side beat Ross County 2-1 after squandering a lead to pull within three points of their relegation battle rivals.
Daniels Balodis had put them in front before they shot themselves in the foot just before half-time by coughing up possession and conceding a goal from it, as has been their Achilles heel so often this season.
Rather than go under this time, though, Saints scored a second half winner, with Elliot Watt the hero.
“We all knew our situation,” said Valakari.
“We’ve had chances to make it better, but we haven’t taken them.
“In football, as in life, when you get your last chance, you need to deliver.
“The boys did that today.
“We could all see the nervousness and there were a few dodgy moments when we didn’t do the right things.
“That’s totally understandable – my players are human beings.
“I loved that my players kept trying to do the right things under pressure and in the end it all came good.
“We’ve kept the fight going. Now we’ll recover and be ready for Wednesday.”
Heads didn’t go down
Valakari added: “We created some good chances before we scored.
“Then we conceded, and it was 1-1.
“Of course, I didn’t like the manner in which the goal came.
“It was a result of our own mistakes.
“The players involved accepted it and at half-time they were ready to go again.
“It has happened before that our heads have gone down.
“Ross County would maybe have thought St Johnstone will be a little bit soft at the start of the second half and they came at us very hard.
“But we got back into the game, got more chances and the winning goal showed the good characteristics of our players.”
Hearts next
Valakari knows that his team still face an uphill battle, with a trip to Tynecastle up next on Wednesday night.
“In football things can change in one minute,” said the Finn.
“We won’t get carried away with this win.
“We did what we needed to do today.
“The only currency you have in football is results – and we weren’t getting those.
“Nobody will believe you if you say you are doing things the right way.
“Inside the club, inside the football department, inside the team we’re keeping a clear head.
“We’ve won today and now we need to perform again.
“We need to keep doing small things right and then anything is possible.
“Wednesday will be our second last chance, if you can say it like that.”
Better team
Saints were by far the better team in the first half and should have been in front after just four minutes.
Barry Douglas played a lovely ball down the left for Josh McPake to chase and his cut-back was perfectly placed for Adama Sidibeh to finish.
Unfortunately, the striker came up with a wild swing and a fresh air shot when composure and a side-foot was needed.
Just before the half-hour mark McPake was again the supplier, this time with a floated cross to the back post.
Sam Curtis got to it first but couldn’t keep his shot on target.
A deserved opener was scored on 32 minutes by Balodis, who met a Watt corner and headed it into the top corner off the underside of the bar.
Instead of going into the break in front however, Saints did what they have done so often this season – lost the ball in their own half and Alex Samuel scored at the near post.
Sidibeh and Uche Ikpeazu squandered glorious chances early in the second half, but they regained their lead on the hour when Watt guided a left-foot shot past Jordan Amissah from just inside the box.
County thought they had an equaliser on the 82nd minute after Ronan Hale bundled a corner over the line but, after an agonising VAR check, it was disallowed.
There were 10 minutes of stoppage time to survive on the pitch and endure in the stands, but Saints saw it out and the survival battle goes on.
Conversation