Callum Davidson is convinced there is more to come from Stevie May after the striker netted his ninth goal of the season to earn St Johnstone a point against Motherwell.
The 28-year-old striker scored his third penalty in just two games to cancel out Mark O’Hara’s early opener for the Fir Park side.
The Scotland cap struggled for form on his return to the club last season but now has eight goals in his last seven outings for Saints.
And Davidson believes the Perth outfit are starting to see the best of the former Sheffield Wednesday and Aberdeen marksman.
The Saints manager said: “It’s good to see him scoring a couple of penalties – and nice for us to get a couple of penalties.
“It’s good, he’s confident at the moment.
“He’s at that place where he’s getting better and he’s getting stronger.
“I think you can see, he’ll keep going. He makes great runs in behind and we just need to make sure we find him.”
Motherwell took the lead in the 17th minute thanks to a sweeping move that took them the length of the pitch.
O’Hara was involved twice before space was engineered for Liam Polworth to fire in a shot. Jason Kerr got in a block but the ball rebounded perfectly for O’Hara, who lashed into the net from 12 yards.
St Johnstone were dealt a blow when Murray Davidson had to be taken off on a stretcher – and subsequently transported to hospital – after falling awkwardly on his shoulder.
However, they recovered to level things up nine minutes from the interval.
Ali McCann’s tenacity won the ball back and David Wotherspoon found the run of May, who was clumsily tripped by Bevis Mugabi. The striker lashed in from the spot.
Midfielder McCann, who turned in an energetic display as he tried to drive Saints to a winner, was singled out for praise by his manager.
The 20-year-old won his first two caps for Northern Ireland against Austria and Romania in the Nations League during the international break.
Davidson added: “Obviously, Ali’s had the accolades of getting his couple of caps, which is fantastic for him.
“And it’s great he can come back and showed the character he did.”
Motherwell’s preparations for the match were interrupted just four hours before kick-off when they were told midfield duo Allan Campbell and Barry Maguire would have to self-isolate for 14 days.
The pair were regarded as close contacts of three Scotland Under-21 team-mates who tested positive for Covid-19 after returning from international duty in Greece.
Motherwell boss Stephen Robinson was disappointed with the way the incident was handled by the Scottish FA.
He said: “You can see how it actually spreads, so there is a concern.
“We tested our own boys, both the senior internationals [Declan Gallagher and Stephen O’Donnell] and the Under-21 internationals.
“Should we be testing them? They’re coming back from an environment where we pay for them to be away for 10 days.
“Maybe the national team should be testing them before they jump off a plane.
“All came back negative, hence why they were allowed to come back into our environment.
“But obviously other Under-21 boys tested positive in the meantime and it may have been wiser to inform everyone, and we could have taken the appropriate action, which we’ve done in the past.”
