St Johnstone have built their reputation over the last decade on the strong mentality in their dressing room.
And Scott Tanser believes Saturday’s McDiarmid Park fightback proved that can still be counted upon.
Even in the glory days of a Scottish Cup triumph, top six finishes and European qualification, over-turning two-goal deficits wasn’t the Perth club’s strong point.
But last weekend’s 2-2 draw from 2-0 down couldn’t have come at a better time as Saints struggled to put a miserable Betfred Cup campaign and a Celtic Park thrashing behind them.
“We’ve definitely got enough character in the changing room,” said Tanser.
“It wasn’t a win but it was certainly better than the week before against Celtic.
“We wanted to bounce back. That didn’t really happen in the first half but after a few words in the dressing room at half-time we came out and played much better in the second half to get a point. That was the sort of football we played last season.
“We knew what we had to do.
“The manager spoke about character and how the second half would show if we were up for the challenge of getting back into the game.
“It was short and sharp. The fact that it was like that probably made even more of an impact.
“That was all we needed to hear. It was us as players who were the only ones who could change things.”
The left-back added: “The crowd were a bit down at the start of the second half but when Matty’s goal went in they got right behind us, which helped us go on to get another.
“Thankfully Zander made the penalty save at the end.
“I’ve not seen it back but it felt like a soft penalty award. Justice was done. It wasn’t a great penalty to be honest but Zander still had to make the save and we’ll take the point. It’s something for us to build on.”
Making themselves heard on the pitch will be key for the Saints players when the league resumes at Easter Road next Saturday.
“You have to be talking on the pitch,” said Tanser. “The more you do that, the more organised you are.
“Everyone is together – the young lads and the more experienced ones.
“The younger ones will be more vocal. That will come. I’ve been there myself.
“It’s about helping each other out.
“Communication is the simplest thing in football and really important.
“That second half performance against Livingston was important for ourselves as much as anything.
“We should have been able to do it in the first half and I’d back us any day of the week to beat them if we had started like that.
“But now that we have played like that we have to repeat it and start getting a few wins.”
Saints are off the mark and off the foot of the table but Tanser isn’t paying any attention to the Premiership standings at this early stage.
“We’re only two games into the season so predicting where teams are going to finish at this stage would be ridiculous,” he said.
“Kilmarnock are down at the bottom but I wouldn’t expect them to finish there.
“Celtic and Rangers are scoring a lot of goals. It looks like that might happen quite regularly this season, which puts our result at Parkhead into a bit of context.”
The talk all summer has been of a striker being recruited but Tanser would be happy to see another left-back brought in as well.
“It’s always good to have a few fresh faces around the team,” he pointed out.
“Everyone knows we’re looking for a striker. Scoring more goals is an area we want to improve on.
“There doesn’t look to be obvious competition for me at left-back but I had that last year with Easty being injured.
“If anyone does come in, I’d welcome it because I never take my place for granted.
“It would push me on.”
