St Johnstone 0 LASK 2: ‘Disgusting’ NINE-man Saints dumped out of exit Europa Conference League after ugly play-off loss
DISGUSTING last week, distraught this time.
Callum Davidson’s nine-man crashed out of the Europa League Conference to LASK.
Austrians boss Dominik Thalhammer branded them ‘disgusting’ after the 1-1 draw in Klagenfurt - and Saints were exactly the same again as they hounded their opponents all over the pitch.
But having knocked them out of their stride for long spells, it was a tale of two benches.
LASK brought on Husein Balic to turn the game, scoring the opener before winning the penalty converted by Marko Raguz.
For Saints, the much-anticipated arrival of David Wotherspoon turned into a disaster.
On just seconds, the attacking midfielder was ordered off by German ref Daniel Siebert for swinging an elbow - before Shaun Rooney walked for hauling down Balic for the penalty.
Saints were without Liam Gordon and their makeshift defence were under pressure just four minutes in when standing off Hyon-Seok Hong allowed the South Korean to wriggle through for a shot on goal.
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But despite being exposed, Clark stood tall at his near post and got enough of his chest to repel it.
Card-happy Siebert was involved early, flashing a yellow at Rene Renner for tugging back Ali McCann as the young midfielder broke away from him wide on the right.
From the free kick, they fashioned a chance for Chris Kane on the angle but his touch evaded him at the crucial moment.
Just like in the first leg, after weathering an early flurry, Davidson’s men set about disrupting the LASK gameplan.
With the front three of Kane, Glenn Middleton and Michael O’Halloran refusing to let the defence settle and Murray Davidson flying into tackles in the middle of the park, they had McDiarmid rocking.
And on 21 minutes the home fans in the East Stand though their side had forged ahead - only to realise they’d not.
A galloping run by Davidson down the right yielded a corner and with Middleton’s whipped ball causing havoc, it cannoned off Wiesinger before clipping Jason Kerr before flying inches wide.
For as comfortable as Saints looked in spells, failing to keep possession in midfield was fraught with danger, as Hong was always lurking in wait to trigger attacks.
He got forward himself on 36 minutes, slipped a great ball through to Keito Nakamura but Rooney was alert enough to make a block before he could test Clark.
The first half was as broken up and disjointed as Davidson would have wanted, with his team - driven on by Davidson - executing the gameplan with huge success.
And in the second, once again, they had to defend early on again as Peter Michorl was given a sight of goal just inside the box, but Clark stretched out well to his right.
And the new Scotland squad man was in action again on 56 minutes, beating away Hong’s left-footed shot from 12 yards after he was gifted too much room.
Davidson’s side had been waiting and waiting for the chance to open up - and it came on the 66th minute.
A bouncing ball from Kane found its way through to Middleton but he couldn’t get it under control and was forced wide.
That allowed McCann to take a crack which was blocked before it fell to Middleton again but this time sub Jan Boller threw himself at full stretch to stop the ball reaching Alexander Schlager’s goal.
The LASK defence couldn’t protect their keeper three minutes later, though, as Kane laid off for Middleton again but unfortunately for Davidson’s men Schlager was up to the job of pushing it away just enough it evaded O’Halloran.
But, as we have seen time and again in Europe, failing to capitalise was punished at the other end as LASK took the lead.
The home defence just couldn’t clear their lines, allowing Karamoko to fire a low cross into the area for sub Balic and having created space for himself, he slammed a shot high past Clark into the top corner.
Davidson reacted by bringing on Wotherspoon to a huge ovation - then disaster struck.
Having won a throw on the far side, the attacking midfielder went in on Flecker but flailed an arm and caught him.
Siebert didn’t need to consider it before reaching for his top pocket.
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The decision sparked fury among the Saints players, with Rooney losing the head at Thalhammer on the touchline before picking up a booking himself for two wild challenges in the space of a few seconds.
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He then walked too, with seven minutes left, for tugging back Balic to concede a penalty.
Fellow sub Raguz stepped up, sent Clark the wrong way and booked LASK’s place in the group stages as the usually mild-mannered Davidson traded insults with Thalhammer on the touchline.
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