St Johnstone owner Adam Webb was back at McDiarmid Park on Saturday for the first time since announcing in September that he had been diagnosed with cancer.
The Atlanta-based lawyer, who assumed ownership of the Perth club in the summer, has had a rough time of it these last few months, taking a back seat from football matters in order to undergo chemotherapy and radiation treatment.
His health and his family were the priority, of course, but it can’t have helped to watch from afar as his newly-acquired team, with a manager he had just appointed, were cut adrift at the foot of the Premiership.
Webb has been missed all right. That’s why they welcomed him back with a message on the stadium scoreboard. And supporters applauded as he took his seat in the main stand.
Better still, the team produced their first league victory since November. Two goals in the last four minutes — by Bozo Mikulic and Taylor Steven — dramatically turned the game on its head after Motherwell had led through Andy Halliday’s early penalty.
It was quite a show of character by Simo Valakari’s side, who could easily have been demoralised by the prospect of taking another step closer to relegation. Instead, they moved to within seven points of second-bottom Kilmarnock and kept alive their hopes of a great escape.
Simo Valakari celebrates after two late goals gave St Johnstone a dramatic win over Motherwell
Substitute Taylor Steven equalises for St Johnstone with four minutes left at McDiarmid Park
In truth, those hopes are slim. The bottom half of the Premiership is more competitive than ever, which means an unusually high number of points will be required to finish even in the play-off spot.
With just 18 points to their name, St Johnstone could do with at least another 20 from their remaining 14 matches, barring an unlikely collapse by one of their rivals.
They need something to click. And fast.
The good news for them is that they have now recorded two wins in a row, having also beaten Motherwell in a Scottish Cup tie at McDiarmid Park seven days earlier. How they would love to play Stuart Kettlewell’s struggling team every week.
Other opponents will be tougher, but three of their next four league matches are against the teams immediately above them in the table. It could be a decisive sequence.
Supporters of the Perth club believe in Valakari. He has made plenty of mistakes since succeeding the sacked Craig Levein in November, but he is refreshingly different from his predecessors at the club.
While he is brutally honest about their predicament, his enthusiasm is infectious. And his courageous passing game is unlike anything Saints fans have been used to, even when they were winning trophies and playing in Europe.
While neutrals suggest that his idealism has been costly, most locals see him as a good guy who is trying to do the right things in a set of circumstances that are not of his own making.
Valakari arrived when the club was in need of a reset, on and off the pitch. He inherited a squad so imbalanced that it had no width and no senior goalkeeper.
Bozo Mikulic turns the match on its head by hooking in a late, late winner for the home side
On Saturday, he had only one available centre-half, so he played winger Drey Wright and midfielder Sven Sprangler in a back three.
His job is to address those issues. Several new players have arrived since the transfer window opened, and there will be several more before it closes. What Valakari does with his own players will be a better gauge of his potential.
In the meantime, he is a popular figure, who engages with fans and tries to entertain.
While relegation is the last thing Webb would need in his first season as owner, it will have encouraged him on his return to Perth to find that the atmosphere around the club is brighter and more positive than it had been under Levein.
Take, for example, the climax to Saturday’s game, when Steven’s winning goal underwent a lengthy VAR check.
As referee Kevin Clancy awaited clarification, the home support broke into song. It was almost as though the outcome didn’t matter, at least in the grand scheme of things.
It was enough for them to believe that they are heading in the right direction.
That they have a manager and a board who are finally acknowledging the club’s weaknesses and trying to do something about them. In the circumstances, that is about as much as they can ask.
