St Johnstone boss Simo Valakari insists a heavy defeat to Celtic in the Scottish Cup semi-finals won’t inflict any mental scars in the Perth club’s bid to avoid relegation.
Seeking to cause another major shock against a Celtic team chasing a domestic Treble, Saints were brutally dismantled on a bruising afternoon at Hampden.
A four-goal burst from Brendan Rodgers’ side just before half-time killed any chance of Valakari’s men repeating the Premiership defeat they inflicted on Celtic in Perth two weeks ago.
The St Johnstone manager expressed pride in the way his team didn’t buckle in the second half, but admitted they could have no excuses or complaints about the result.
All focus will now turn back to the league and the five remaining games in their battle to claw their way off the bottom of the table.
Currently five points adrift of Dundee, St Johnstone will look to boost their hopes of staging a great escape when they travel to Motherwell next weekend.
Confident that his team can bounce back, 51-year-old Finn said: ‘It was a tough afternoon. Of course, it wasn’t the result we wanted. We’ve got no complaints.
‘Celtic came with relentless energy. We stayed solid for 30 minutes but made a couple of not so good decisions with the ball. They punished us.
‘Celtic were still doing the same things at the end of the game as at the beginning. We did 30 minutes of things we were practising, then we thought: “Let’s try something different”.
‘Boom — at that moment, everything went out of our hands. We need to be patient and know what is working.
‘At half-time the cup dream was gone. We only had pride to play for — for this club and our fans.
‘I think in the second half the players showed that character. We deserved to be in this semi-final. It was a fantastic cup journey.
‘Yes, we are sad, and we suffered a bit. But we need to freshen up and go again tomorrow.
‘There were tactical things talked about at half-time, of course. But we had to show what kind of team we are. It would have been so easy to collapse.
‘There was no other choice. The dream was gone but the pride was there.
‘The players who came on made me think a lot of things about how we’re going to go about these last five matches. This was a cup semi-final against a top opponent.
‘I can’t predict the future but I have said it for a long time, we can do a lot of good things but our bad things are dragging us down. If we can fix that, then I believe our level is good enough to stay in this league.
‘That’s what Celtic can do to any team in Scotland, they are relentless. No hard feelings, no excuses, we didn’t do enough good things to get anything out of it.
'I’m proud of my players, however we can’t give silly goals away because we don’t have the time or points to do it. That’s what we are working on.
‘There is no opponent who will help us. We own our own performance — there is no fear, we will go with full attack and see where we are.’
St Johnstone looked like they had scored a spectacular consolation goal 10 minutes into the second half when substitute Makenzie Kirk thumped one into the top corner from 25 yards.
It was ruled out by VAR, though, due to a slight push from Daniels Balodis on Celtic striker Adam Idah in the build-up.
‘Yes, there was some kind of shove, but I feel for Makenzie,’ said Valakari. ‘It was a beautiful strike. That’s how it is.’
The main positive for the St Johnstone boss was the sight of striker Uche Ikpeazu coming off the bench to make his long-awaited debut in the second half. Since joining the club last summer, the 30-year-old Englishman has been ravaged by injuries and has had to undergo three separate knee surgeries.
Now Ikpeazu is finally back fit again, his manager is hoping the powerful target man can make a big impact over the final few weeks of the season.
‘It was good to see Uche back,’ said Valakari. ‘It has been very tough for him.
‘For the team, we got to see what type of player he is. We need to understand one year is a long time without football.
‘He’s healthy. So let’s see what happens with more training inside him. I believe he can help us a lot.’
Meanwhile, St Johnstone star Kirk, 21, said of his disallowed goal: ‘I knew as soon as it left my foot it was going into the back of the net.
‘The adrenaline gets the better of you when you score one like that from distance.
‘It was a great feeling at the time, but once the ref is taking ages to confirm it, you start to get an idea (it is not going to be awarded).
‘I could see his mind starting to change, so you get the feeling it’s not going to go your way.
‘Personally, I think it’s soft. Idah’s touch means he’s never getting control of it. I don’t think it’s a foul, but the ref decided it was, so there’s nothing you can do.
‘It’s devastating personally because it was a good goal in a big game, but you just have to move on.’