Lessons learned

Valakari made Saints pleasing on the eye with his brand of possession football, reached the Scottish Cup semi-final and stunned champions Celtic 1-0 in the league in early April.

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But Drey Wright joined the defensive casualty list that afternoon.

And by the time Zach Mitchell went down for the season with a hamstring injury at Dundee United, it was too much to stand.

A back line that improved on a run of seven clean sheets in 12 games in all competitions began to

"We had worked hard to improve defensively and to become a more solid team," said Valakari.