St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright is adamant the future is bright for the Perth side, despite a difficult start to the campaign.
Saints twice came from behind to earn a well-deserved 2-2 draw against Hibernian in the Ladbrokes Premiership on Saturday.
Jason Kerr headed in with the last touch of the game as the visitors were rewarded for a sustained spell of pressure.
And Wright insists the level of the performance at Easter Road has given him confidence that the team have turned a corner.
After failing to progress from their Betfred Cup group in July, St Johnstone were then thrashed 7-0 by Celtic before drawing 2-2 with Livingston.
Wright is desperate to add fresh faces to his squad but believes the team are heading in the right direction.
He said: “The Betfred Cup was a disaster, everything that could go wrong did go wrong.
“There has been a lot of negativity around our place but the players are lifting that with their performance in the second half against Livi and again on Saturday.
“If I was a St Johnstone fan going home I’d be thinking the club is in good hands, there’s a good future ahead of it.
“It might be up and down this season, it might be topsy-turvy, but there’s the basis of a real good squad here.
“We have a very young side – the back four were 20 (Wallace Duffy), 22 (Jason Kerr), 23 (Liam Gordon) and 24 (Scott Tanser) – but it’s one which will grow together and get better together.
“Ali McCann is 19 years old and after the first 10 or 15 minutes he played like a 29-year-old.
“The young ones all played well, they will get confidence from this but they have to go and do it again next week.”
Hibs went ahead in the 25th minute when Adam Jackson was afforded time in the box to head in Stevie Mallan’s cross.
Michael O’Halloran equalised in the 68th minute before Flo Kamberi restored the hosts’ lead within 60 seconds.
Kerr then found space in the fourth minute of added time to head in Danny Swanson’s cross.
Hibs head coach Paul Heckingbottom claimed anxiety from the fans seeped onto the pitch and was a factor in the result.
However, the former Leeds boss insists his players must also show greater courage.
He said: “They need to be tougher and get used to it. Everyone wants to play at the top level.
“As you go up, the scrutiny gets higher and higher and is part of your job whether it’s unfair or not.
“I look at some Premier League players and I guarantee they’ll be ignoring everything that’s written and said about them and focus on their team.”
