St Johnstone striker David McMillan has been backed to kick on after heading home his second goal in successive games.
The Irishman has had his Saints career hampered by injury but looked as sharp as a tack as he ghosted in at the near post to nod his team ahead against Aberdeen after just 14 minutes at McDiarmid Park on Saturday.
The hosts were well in command in the first half against a strangely lacklustre and punchless Dons side.
However, the game evened out in the second period and the visitors deserved to pull themselves level when Niall McGinn’s excellent freekick hit the back of the net on 69 minutes.
It was a scoreline that had left Perth boss Tommy Wright reasonably happy.
He certainly wasn’t surprised to see McMillan pounce as he did for the opener.
Wright believes there is more to come from the former Dundalk player, who also found the target against Hamilton in their previous match.
The McDiarmid manager said: “David had a horrendous time last season with his injury and he was pretty low at times.
“It was one of those injuries that went on and on but we were glad to get him back and scoring at the end of last season.
“He has come back this season full of confidence and is getting good service from the team.
“David is a goalscorer, who has scored wherever he’s played in the past so it’s no surprise he’s getting goals now that he’s fit.”
Wright was satisfied with a draw, although his team did have chances to make the match their own.
He added: “It’s a good point.
“We had to work hard for it and I think there are aspects of the game we could do better in but it’s a good result against a good side.
“We had chances to win it but they came at us in the second half when they brought Sam Cosgrove on and changed their style a bit.
“There were a lot of good things to take out of it.”
It could have been a whole lot rosier for the hosts had referee awarded them a penalty with the score still at 1-0.
Half-time substitute Ross Callachan, who had replaced Liam Craig, found himself with only Dons keeper Joe Lewis to negotiate and tried to jump over the goalie.
He then fell to the floor claiming for a foul but referee Willie Collum waved play on, neither booking Lewis for a foul nor Callachan for diving.
Callachan wasn’t convinced about that, arguing that he had been caught by the Aberdeen number one.
The Saints man, who was making his debut, said: “I’ve gone to jump over him (Lewis) but as I have jumped over him he’s clipped me so I couldn’t stay on my feet.”
Asked if was perhaps too honest and should think about leaving out a trailing leg next time, Callachan insisted: “I would change nothing.
“(I would do) the exact same thing.
“I would try and be honest.
“If I get round him, I’m scoring so what’s the point in going down?
“You then get booked for diving!
“It’s just one of these things but I’m happy to make my debut and hopefully I can kick on from here.”
His boss Wright added: “I was going mad on the touchline because I thought Willie (Collum) had booked him.
“It’s the correct decision because he’s jumped over him.
“It’s one of those ones where his honesty means it’s not a penalty because if he’d left his foot in it would have been a stonewaller.”
With Saints denied a possible spotkick chance, the Dons started to dominate the match.
The hosts seemed to almost be inviting their opponents on to them and it wasn’t exactly a shock when Niall McGinn placed a fabulous freekick past keeper Zander Clark from outside the box on 69 minutes.
It was a timely goal, both for club and player.
McGinn said: “I feel it’s been coming now for a couple of weeks.
“I was close to scoring against Kilmarnock and I’d been practising them in training.
“Graeme Shinnie was shouting before the freekick that it was definitely for a left-footer but I felt good in the game and felt confident.
“I’d had a few shots leading up to it and it was in a nice position.
“There wasn’t much room because the goalkeeper is a big lad and it was a big wall as well.
“I did have a wee look to see if I could cross it towards the back post but I caught it sweet.
“You saw the keeper coming across and the last thing I wanted was for him to claw it out. If he had made the save it would have been unbelievable.
“I was delighted to see hit it the back of the net because I was definitely due one.
“On another day we could have gone on and won.”
