St Johnstone v AberdeenSNS

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16/03/25

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Tyrone Smith
BBC Sport Scotland at McDiarmid Park

St Johnstone and Aberdeen were both left to rue a missed opportunity as they fought out a tousy goalless Scottish Premiership draw at McDiarmid Park.

The point moves the Perth side within two of second-bottom Dundee, when a win might have moved them off the bottom of the league.

While Aberdeen did not lose any ground on Hibernian in the race for third, they were unable to take advantage of the Edinburgh side dropping points at Kilmarnock and stay a point back.

It is usually pretty tight when these teams meet and, with both taking decent recent form into this edition of the fixture, another close encounter was expected.

And that is exactly what transpired in a first half which was full of energy but not many goalscoring opportunities.

St Johnstone should have taken the lead early on when Makenzie Kirk was one on one with Dimitar Mitov, but the goalkeeper produced a fine save to tip the striker's shot wide.

The division's bottom side had another good chance as the interval approached, when Adama Sidibeh had an effort blocked.

Aberdeen had a couple of Kevin Nisbet shots easily gathered by Andy Fisher in a frustrating opening 45 minutes.

And manager Jimmy Thelin will have no doubt called for more from his side at half time and they went close just after the restart with Oday Dabbagh heading wide.

Substitute Victor Griffith did the same for St Johnstone on the hour.

The theme of going close with headers continued in a scrappy second half - this time it was Aberdeen defender Mats Knoester's turn.

And that was the sum of things in what was a disappointing encounter in Perth.

St Johnstone still seeking vital points

When you are battling for your life at the bottom of the league, every point is a prisoner. So this will be gratefully grasped and tucked away for safety.

One is, of course, better than none but, while it sounds greedy, St Johnstone could have done with all three.

Depending on what happens in Sunday's Dundee derby, the Perth side could end the weekend well adrift at the foot of the table.

Of course they might not – but it serves to highlight the perilous situation they find themselves in.

Simo Valakari's team are in a predicament which is about fine lines and what happened against Aberdeen serves to reinforce that point.

His team have now lost just two of their last seven league games but it is wins that will prove priceless over the coming weeks as they continue in their bid to survive.

Not positive point for Aberdeen

This point in Perth doesn't feel like a good one for Aberdeen.

Of course there is the positive way of looking at it – it is better than nothing and it means they have now lost just one of their last seven games in all competitions.

But given the tightness of the race for European places - and even for a spot in the top six - there is little margin for error and points can ill afford to be spilled.

A win would have left Jimmy Thelin's side in a really strong position, but the draw leaves them knowing they very much have a lot of work still to do.

That's not to say they can't do it, and there have been signs of late that Aberdeen have turned a corner. However it is wins, not draws, that will take them to where they want to be come the end of the campaign.

What they said

St Johnstone manager Simo Valakari: "It was a very tight game. We had our chance in the first half, we defended against a very dangerous attacking force.

"It's a step forward. We have lost these matches earlier. If we cannot win it let's take the point and it's one point gained. You never know how valuable it will be.

"We looked solid and that's the foundation for the survival fight. We will create, we will do the things but we have to be solid."

Aberdeen manager Jimmy Thelin: "The result is fair but we need to do more to deserve to win, create more chances to get a winning goal. Today was not enough.

"The opponent did their job well, defended well and so did we but it was not enough. We had a really big away support who pushed us but we have to do more.

"Defensively we did well but we need to do more to get the three points. Hopefully it's going to be a good point when we sum up everything."

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