St Johnstone suffered late VAR agony in their gut-wrenching 3-2 defeat to St Mirren

Simo Valakari, the head coach of Perth, however, maintained that his team’s ineffective game management, not the referees’ choices, was what prevented them from defeating their Paisley rivals.

After losing an early goal to Killian Phillips, the Saints rallied to take a 2-1 lead thanks to goals from Makenzie Kirk and Benji Kimpioka.

Youngster Evan Mooney tied the score for the Buddies with two minutes remaining in the 90, and Roland Idowu won the game with a penalty kick well into stoppage time.

After Steven McLean, who was on VAR duty, determined that Josh Rae had gone off his line before making a save against Mark O’Hara, the spot-kick was retaken.

The Saints players were angry that the penalty had been awarded in the first place.

There were no complaints about McLean spotting a Jason Holt handball in the box but, before that happened, Olutoyosi Olusanya had pushed Jack Sanders to the ground.

Valakari, though, made a point of analysing what Saints should have done better – and the Finn took his share of the blame for a poor first half display.

“How we started the game, I take responsibility for that,” he said.

We began with three quick strikers. We were unable to control the ball, despite our desire to move swiftly behind their line. We attempted to play too direct and vertical.

“We didn’t really produce anything, and the quality of our passes was lacking.

We had a conversation and switched places halfway through.

“I believe the boys scored two fantastic goals in the second half, showcasing their skill.

Then we were overcome by feelings, good feelings. “We’re going to score even more goals,” was our thought. Rather than being calm and passing the ball about, we lost it a little bit in our minds.

“We had complete control over the game.

“To finish the game, we could have kept the ball.”

“It serves as a reality check and my biggest disappointment. As a team, we still lack the ability to act appropriately when we need them to.

“The score was 2-1 against us. To see those events through, we must learn fast.

On the big VAR decisions, Valakari said: “It was a clear hand ball.

“What happened before that between Jack and their striker, I don’t know. The referee let it play.

“Then Josh made a save but I have been told that he took a step off the line. So I’ve no complaints about the hand ball or the penalty being retaken.

“What happened before that – I’m not a referee.

“It seemed that everybody stopped but the referee has made a decision. I’m far away. Those things happen a lot in football.”

Saints are now just one point above the bottom of the table, with Hibs jumping above them after beating Ross County.

Valakari is confident that he’ll get the right reaction when they travel to Tynecastle on Sunday.

“You can’t feel sorry for yourself,” he said. “We’ve got a big fight on our hands. There is no time to feel down.

“We didn’t win the match and, basically, didn’t do enough to win the match.

“It’s our choice how we react. Yes, it hurts a lot but we’ll be back next week to try and make it better.”