“We knew what happened out there was unacceptable.

“It was not good enough.

“There are fans paying good money to watch us and the performance was just not good enough. They are still travelling in good numbers on a Friday night.

“I know they will be very disappointed but I can assure you the players feel the same.

“We know ourselves it was not good enough. That is three defeats away from home now and it is very disappointing.

“The performance was not like us. It was a tough one to take. We just did not show enough fight. We did not give enough.

“It is just not good enough when you have a full team not turning up.

“Barry came on and gave it a little bit of fight and I was delighted for young Connor who came on and made his debut. He gave us a spark but it was too late by then.

“Tonight right across the pitch St Johnstone were the better team. Fair play to them.

“We knew how St Johnstone would play. Yet we let them play their game. They are very good at it. As I say fair play to them. They seemed to out fight us all over the pitch. We did not show up tonight and it was not good enough when we still had five games left this season. Five games and still a lot to play for – and that is the performance we put in?

“We wanted to win the last five games to see what would happen but that is gone now. We knew if we could win the five games it could be special for us.

“Right across the board it was not good enough. Every one of their players was better than us and won their individual battles.

“Why that happened I do not know.

“It is hard straight after the game to put your finger on why it went so wrong. But from the first minute St Johnstone were the better team. There is no other way of putting it. It was a very despondent changing room after the game.

“We did speak about things after the game but I am sure we will go into much detail of what went wrong during the week.

“It is up to the players to put it right.

“We know Hearts will now put pressure on us but it is up to us to respond. We know it will be a tough end to the season now but we need to keep working hard. There is a lot to play for and we need to show that on the pitch.

“We need to make sure the players on the pitch make that happen and we keep going from now until the end of the season. It is our job. We need to work for every point. We will look to win the four games.

“We know our second spot could be on the line if we put performances like that in. As I say it is up to the ones on the pitch to keep fighting for every point. We cannot let the season fizzle out. At times I am sure it looked like that tonight but I can assure you all the boys in that dressing room care. We speak about things a lot.

“We just need to get back to basics. We need to get back to what we know we are good at. We were out worked and that is not like us at all. We have to keep working hard. We have a game at home next Saturday and we need to try and put things right.”

“We just need to get back to basics. We need to get back to what we know we are good at. We were out worked and that is not like us at all. We have to keep working hard. We have a game at home next Saturday and we need to try and put things right.”