St Johnstone boss Steve Lomas maintains their midweek point against Celtic will only be meaningful if they follow it up with a positive result this weekend.
Saints moved back to within three points of second-placed Motherwell courtesy of their 1-1 draw with the champions on Tuesday night and Lomas was pleased with the way his side responded after a lacklustre first-half showing.
However, he wants his squad to build on their second-half performance when they host St Mirren on Saturday.
“It’s all about using what we’ve got and we didn’t have too many players available,” he said. “We didn’t have Chris Millar, Dave Mackay and Murray Davidson they were all out and they are all senior players who have played a lot of games.
“It was about trying to use the squad and have one eye on Saturday because, as good a point as it is, it’s only a great point if you back it up and win on Saturday.
“It will be a very tough game because St Mirren are on a very good run and Danny Lennon has got them flying.”
Lomas was delighted with the impact of his second-half substitutes, with Gregory Tade adding a bit of cutting edge to Saints’ attack before Nigel Hasselbaink came on to grab the vital equaliser eight minutes from time.
“We wanted to hang in there, and we were delighted to get in at 1-0,” Lomas said. “But the subs made a massive impact and I’ve been saying that all along you can’t get anywhere with 11 players, you need a squad, and the boys who came in made a great contribution.
“I’ve been asking the boys that have been out of the team to make a problem for me and Nigel and Gregory came on and created a good problem. I was delighted with that.
“Nigel has deservedly been knocking on the door. The wee man’s got ability in abundance, we’re just trying to get it from him more week in, week out.
“It’s trying to get him in the mentality that you’ve got to work without the ball.”
To that end, Lomas also heaped praise on striker Steven MacLean for his contribution.
He added: “Macca has been excellent he’s probably sacrificed his game at times and he would probably have more goals if he didn’t do the work that he has to do.
“But he’s another great pro who sacrifices himself for the team and that’s how you pick up results players doing that. I thought there were a lot of players who sacrificed themselves against Celtic.”