Simo Valakari believes that the supporters played a major role in St Johnstone’s draw against Falkirk, and admitted that his side had to adapt to the conditions.
Simo Valakari on the impact of the East Stand closure: “I have to say, it was a very difficult game, a very strange game. Starting, we are missing one stand. Those things can happen; it kind of create a little bit of a weird atmosphere inside the stadium, but those things can happen. It was out of our hands, the club’s hands; they did everything – how well the fans, how they adapted to the situation. Okay, our stand is closed; let’s go and support the team, you see it.
On his side adapting to the conditions: “First half, very difficult, but I have to say, my old memories, my own experiences, I have played here, exactly same conditions, it is very bright sun, kind of low, very windy, so the grass will get dry very easily, so when you play, as a player, it’s always a little bit of chaos, you don’t see what’s happening there, and I know this is kind of funny things to say. Playing with the black shirt sometimes when you don’t see, you just see the sun. As a player, you are like, ‘What’s happening?’ And that showed, you know, but the boys adapted; it was unbelievable how they adapted, you know, that moment. Of course we were not happy with how we played first half, but sometimes you need to grind out.
On bouncing back from going one goal down: “It was a game of two moments of quality. Falkirk score goal; it was, for me, beautiful goal. How they can do it: full back playing inside channel run behind our back line, create cut back, opposite winger coming in, quality finish to goal there and you score a goal, but then, after that, how our boys went through the rest of the match, I kind of enjoyed, and the crowd was pushing; we were fighting every moment, some moments we needed to take some breather, let the opposition have a couple of balls, then we went again, and then comes this moment of quality, and Enes saw it.
On the stoppage time free kick: “The biggest thing of this game, as we have seen before, the determination, the grittiness, the togetherness, not giving up, just pushing until the end. That’s what I like. I like our players; everyone wants to be here, or everyone wants to be the star, but we know how good our free kick takers are. We got Jamie Gullan in the stands, we had Ruari Paton there, we had Danny Schmidt, who can take a free kick, we have Enes who can take a free kick, there was Ruari, Danny Schmidt, Enes there. Boys were talking together there and decided in this moment, how the wall is, where the goalkeeper is, it’s best to shoot with the left foot and unselfishly Ruari and Danny give it to Enes to shoot, instead of trying to force the thing, I love that, that they recognise the situation, my teammate is in a better position to be successful, and then comes the quality of our players.
On the red card shown to Diabate: It was a yellow card, second yellow card, I think, I want our defenders; they are front footed, they defend. Actually, I’ve not seen it back, so I don’t know yet.
On the bench’s frustration regarding the inconsistency from the referee: “For the referee, it’s not the easiest game, because honestly, the ball goes everywhere, because then the players, you know, they’re pumping each other, so it was not easy to call those moments, so of course you leave the moments as everyone could do better.
On the first half: “As I said it again, the first half, I did not enjoy it; it was like a training game, it was like a strange feeling, we could not get going, and, as always, the opponent made it difficult for us, okay we had a couple of chances with Taylor, they had their one chance when they went through, but in the end I think, if ever you deserve anything in football, you need to take it, we deserve this one point.
On whether the frustrations from the stands motivated the players on the pitch: “It helped, the supporters, as I said it, they were fantastic, they pushed our team forward, they were putting the pressure on the referee, they were pushing our players forward, so, one hundred per cent, it helped.
On if the new strip will be worn at McDiarmid Park again: “Not on a sunny day, let’s see, but I really like the shirt; it’s beautiful, the tradition of Scotland as well, so it looks very, very good.
On Zach Mitchell’s injury, which brought his game to an end: “I don’t have a clue; I have not seen him after the match. We need to have something to see what’s there. I think it’s a knee, if I heard it right. I ask and he walked past me when he came off, but as I said it, I can’t say anything else.
On how crucial that point is: “This was massive, massive point, massive point, think about walking out here, nothing, you have three weeks. Yes, we are realistic; we know that we need to do many things better. We know how tight this league is, it’s one moment you are not there, you will get punished, but to get this one point and walk out, recover a little bit, it comes in a very big moment for, let’s say, Enes Alic, because not that much pre-season behind him and he played now every game in a row, he can get a little bit of rest, and then we can train again, so yes, massive, massive point.”