As St Johnstone sought in vain to pull a goal back against Kilmarnock, there was a moment at McDiarmid Park that summed up their recent struggles.
Josh McPake, an outcast winger elevated to first-choice in recent weeks, was drifting inside and hoping to get a shot away when the sprinklers went off and caused the referee to halt play.
It was unfortunate for the Perth club, but it was also hapless and self-inflicted, a bit like much of their increasingly forlorn efforts to avoid relegation from the Premiership.
In a game that represented their best opportunity yet to grab a lifeline, Simo Valakari’s side rarely threatened to prevent Killie claiming only their third away win of the season.
The visitors didn’t have to be great to go ahead through David Watson, double their lead through Danny Armstrong’s penalty and see out the game comfortably.
Not for the first time, Valakari’s team showed up well in the statistics, but they are short of quality, error-prone at the back and blunt in attack. Their survival hopes hang by a fraying thread.
St Johnstone boss Simo Valakari is wrestling with problems that predate his arrival in Perth
Valakari consoles his players after a 2-0 defeat by Kilmarnock that leaves them six points adrift
Danny Armstrong celebrates scoring a penalty in KIlmarnock’s 2-0 victory at McDiarmid Park
A miraculous escape is just about possible. If they beat 11th-placed Ross County in Perth on Saturday, they will move to within three points of the Highland side with two matches left. But there is little to suggest they will beat County, never mind Hearts or Dundee after that. It will be no surprise if their relegation is mathematically confirmed this weekend.
There had been high hopes in Perth that, if Saints could stay in touch by the start of the post-split schedule, they would have enough positivity under Valakari to narrow the gap.
Instead, they look more limited now than they have done all season. That they are still six points behind a County team who have lost half a dozen games in a row says it all.
By pitting rivals against each other, the split isn’t just dramatic, it is revealing. Right now, in the games that matter most, Saints and County are being exposed as the two poorest teams in the top flight.
Valakari has been popular with fans since his appointment in October. He is charismatic, he embraces the community and he plays possession-based football. The idea is to modernise the team and its identity, just as American owner Adam Webb is trying to do with the club.
But right now, it isn’t working. And with every passing week a few more fans are reluctantly asking if it ever will. They want Valakari to succeed, they really do, but they need something to cling to.
Where there used to be a consensus that Valakari should oversee the club’s much-needed reset, even if it was in the Championship, now there are concerns — about the naïveté of his playing style, his team selections and his rush to judge players who don’t fit the game plan.
Judging the Finn is not easy. A couple of promising runs have proved to be false dawns, but you don’t beat Celtic, as Saints did less than a month ago, without having something about you.
More importantly, there are underlying issues that were never going to be solved overnight. He joined a club that needed a whole new infrastructure. He inherited a hopelessly imbalanced squad. And his two strongest signings — centre-halves Bozo Mikulic and Zach Mitchell — have been lost to injury.
In these last few chaotic weeks, he has had only one fit central defender. Drey Wright, his best and most versatile player, is also missing. Benji Kimpioka, a free-scoring striker early in the season, seemed to down tools in January.
Valakari was appointed to transform the club as part of a root-and-branch rebuild, one that was destined to take time. Assuming it happens, relegation will be his responsibility, but it will also be the price of problems that predate his arrival.
Yes, he should have made a bigger impact by now, but it is a little early yet to brand him a failure. If he doesn’t hit the ground running next season — with his own players, his own pre-season and relatively forgiving opponents — it will be a different matter.
Goal machine McAllister will be a big miss
Rory McAllister is a striker whose name has been on so many scoresheets that you wonder why he never played at a higher level. Now ending his third spell at Peterhead, he also had stints with Montrose, Cove Rangers and Brechin City, all of which were so prolific that he is one of only three men since World War II to have scored more than 250 Scottish league goals. The others are Ally McCoist and Gordon Wallace.
On Saturday night, Peterhead bade farewell to the 37-year-old who helped them win the League Two title. They also announced that he will be honoured with a testimonial in the summer. Nobody deserves one more.
