Barry Robson looked back on a classic ‘game of two halves’ when he spoke to the press after the 0-0 draw with St Johnstone.

“We looked a bit slow in the first half, I don’t think St Johnstone brought anything either and at that point, it was a poor game. Europe is where we want to be, so I’m not wanting an excuse, but we did look jaded after Thursday.

“So we had a word with them at half-time and we came out a different team. That’s the mentality and the character we need, and I was so pleased with that. They found it in them to go again, and we’ll need that from them this season. In the end, we could have come away with two or three goals, and that’s the frustrating bit, because we should have won the game.

“We made a couple of changes in the second half, Graeme Shinnie looked a bit leggy after all the games he’s played this season, played in every one, so I didn’t want to push him too far. Playing every midweek is a big ask, but it’s not easy to leave the captain out when he has such a big impact on the side.

“The substitutes came on and affected the game, they gave us new energy when we needed it, but it wasn’t our day in front of goal. We were well on top in the second half, throwing everything at them, but we couldn’t find that goal. That happens some days.”

Had VAR not ruled out Andy Considine’s own goal just before the break, it might have been a different story, but like most managers, Barry Robson would rather talk football than technology.

“Every detail in the game is put under scrutiny but in the end, it still comes down to someone’s interpretation against somebody else’s. The goal’s disallowed, ok, move on, what else can I do? I can’t control VAR, all I can do is prepare my team, and I’ll worry about that, not VAR.

“I just want my team to score goals. Today we didn’t do that but the positive is we got a clean sheet, we’re five games unbeaten, we’re in a cup semi-final, and we are creating chances. That’s not too bad, is it?”