Ten-man St Johnstone twice came from behind to deny struggling Kilmarnock a precious Scottish Premiership victory.
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Image source, SNSSt Johnstone manager Simo Valakari was not for blaming goalkeeper Toby Steward, who was sent off in the first half for handling outside his penalty box.
The Finn stressed that he wants his goalkeepers to come off their line.
"That's my tactical choice," he tells BBC Scotland. "I want my keeper to be like a sweeper behind those long balls.
"And he has been very good, he reads those moments.
"As you know in football, it's a teeny, teeny line you know, where he was and now this time it went this way, a red card, but Ross Sinclair came in and made some great saves.
"We came here to win the football match. We want to win the football matches.
"Sometimes you need to take what the game gives you. What our players did today, playing 80 minutes one man short – and in the last 20 minutes playing with two players short because I had made all my substitutions and Danny Schmidt couldn't run – we have been talking a lot about the players' character.
"Today, the personality and character: they never ever doubted. We always felt we could get something out of the match if we did things right and actually we scored two good goals."
Image source, SNSKilmarnock were without Mark O'Hara, Bailey Rice and Johnly Yfeko in midweek.
St Johnstone have Liam Smith available after he missed the game against Motherwell with a groin problem.
Kai Fotheringham completes a two-match ban and Sam Stanton faces another week out with an ankle injury.
Image source, SNSSt Johnstone manager Simo Valakari feels his team have been competitive in their first meeting with all of their Premiership opponents but he will continue treating every game as a major challenge.
The Championship winners sit in eighth place with 13 points from their opening 11 matches.
Valakari said: "There's enough games played, we need to respect the table. But I can say every game we have competed, even Ibrox, it was 4-0 but for 60 minutes we competed and pushed the opponent. But 11 games played, we need to respect the table."
The Finn refused to consider talking about a top-six push prior to Saturday's visit to Kilmarnock.
"I did not say anything last year, I did not say anything at the start of this season, and I'm not saying anything now," he said.
"Our only concern, our only focus, is this next game. Because if we start calculating, these next games we need to get this many points... it's not our job.
"It's the media, the fans, they can speculate, they can play football manager, dreaming of how things will go. Our only focus is the next game and how we can be the best version of ourselves."
Killie dropped to the bottom of the table in midweek and Valakari expects them to be fired up.
"I said it many times, every manager says, the margins are so small," said the former Motherwell midfielder, whose team scored a stoppage-time equaliser against the Steelmen on Wednesday.
"People talked about Motherwell coming here with six losses but you look at their team, how good they are, and losing seven games in a row is almost impossible.
"And it's the same with Kilmarnock, they have very good players. They are dangerous going forward."
Since Neil McCann's first home league game in charge on 31 January, only Celtic (11), Hearts (11) and Rangers (8) have won more home matches in the Scottish Premiership than Kilmarnock (W7 D2 L4).
Just one of the past 16 Premiership matches between Kilmarnock (5 wins) and St Johnstone (10 wins) have ended in a draw, a 1-1 stalemate in March 2023.
Six of St Johnstone's 13 points this season have come from losing positions, only Celtic (7) have more, while Josh Campbell's 90th-minute equaliser against Motherwell last time out was their third via a substitute this season, no side has more.
St Johnstone have won just three of their past 23 top-flight away league games (D4 L16), conceding 46 goals in that time.
Kilmarnock are looking to win back-to-back home league games against St Johnstone for the first time since April 2019 (3 in a row) after their 3-1 win in February 2025.
Highlights: St Johnstone 2-2 Motherwell
We asked for your views after St Johnstone drew 2-2 at home to Motherwell.
Here's what some of you had to say:
Neil: While we obviously must concentrate on picking up three points at home, the team has continued with a very healthy habit of picking up points while under the cosh and looking defeated - something which just wasn't happening in the last few seasons in the Premiership. Those points will be vital at the end of the campaign.
Gordon: We totally mugged Motherwell. We only got our goals when we cut out the tippy-tappy sideways and backwards stuff. We have good players but Simo needs to let them play and stop over coaching them.
Ray: I was watching the match in bed and was gutted when Motherwell went in front. I fell asleep and was delighted when I woke up this morning to see we had equalised with the last kick of the game.
Highlights: St Johnstone 2-2 Motherwell
Watch the best of the action as St Johnstone deny Motherwell a first win in seven games in the Scottish Premiership. Available to UK users only.
St Johnstone manager Simo Valakari: "First of all, I have to say I think it was a very good football match. There were 2 good footballing teams who tried to play with the ball, so I enjoyed that part of the game.
"Our late goal is so important, we've been talking about the small margins in this league. It's important if you are losing that you stay in the game and you will get your chance. In the end I think we deserved that point. I have to say I'm so pleased with the subs, they had a big, big impact. As I said we have a strong squad and it's a good position to be in.
"We were very good in our attacking moments. Of course we knew they would have the ball, so we just need to suffer in moments. I can understand the frustration of their manager to lose a goal that late but overall I think a draw is a fair result.
"I think it tells more about the character and personality of our players how they want to push, they want to compete and they never gave up today."
St Johnstone won their last home league game against Motherwell 2-1 in January 2025, last winning back-to-back matches against the Steelmen in February 2016 (six in a row).
St Johnstone have only won one of their past eight midweek (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) games in the Scottish Premiership (D3 L4), beating Ross County 1-0 in February 2025.
Motherwell have lost their past three away league games, last losing more in succession in December 2017 (5).
Motherwell have won three of their past four Scottish Premiership games against St Johnstone (L1), as many as their previous 15 beforehand (W3 D6 L6).
Motherwell have lost their past two league games against newly-promoted opponents, last losing more in a row in February 2015 (5).
Image source, SNSSt Johnstone missed Sam Stanton (ankle) on Saturday but manager Simo Valakari says he has no new injuries.
Motherwell hope to have Lukas Fadinger and Regan Charles-Cook back while Martin Moorman has been struggling with illness but should be fine.
Oscar Priestman (calf) is still not ready, Dylan Williams (hamstring) remains out while Alex Lowry (knee) and Johnny Koutroumbis (muscle) are out until the international break along with long-term absentees Paul McGinn and Callum Hendry (both knee).
St Johnstone defender Bozo Mikulic, 29, feels ready to start after appearing as a substitute in recent weeks following a lengthy injury absence. (Courier - subscription required, external)
Image source, SNSSt Johnstone defender Bozo Mikulic is hoping his injury woes are behind him after spending most of the past 20 months on the sidelines.
The Croat suffered ACL damage in February 2025 and then returned for two matches in January before a hamstring tear ruled him out for the rest of last season.
After spending the early part of this term building himself back up, Mikulic returned as a late substitute in the recent win at Aberdeen before making his first start in almost nine months in Saturday's 4-0 defeat at Rangers.
"I can say I'm healthy now from the pre-season until now and I hope it will continue like that," the former Hadjuk Split player said before Wednesday's visit from Motherwell.
"Injuries are just part of my career unfortunately and I really hope that the rest of my career I will be injury-free."
Mikulic has endured a mentally-testing period but insisted he has full trust in his body to hold up to the demands of playing football again.
"I believe that I'm stronger now," he said. "Definitely, in my head, I'm a stronger person. I can accept everything.
"My body is still there. I believe I can handle everything that you need in football.
"It just makes you stronger. You need to accept the situation.
"You need to push to the maximum, I don't have any option. I can go or I cannot go. I'm okay. I don't have any doubt in my head, that's the most important thing.
"I feel really ready."
Sam Miller
Fan writer
Football is a fickle beast. One week you are walking on air, and the next you are wondering if your team's boots are glued to the turf.
For St Johnstone fans, the bruising encounter against Rangers felt a bit like stumbling into a brick wall while running for a bus - sudden, painful and entirely disorienting.
Let's be honest, watching the Saints take on the Glasgow giants is never for the faint-hearted.
But when the dust settles and the bruises stop throbbing, the golden rule must kick in - write it off as a classic 'bad day at the office'.
Every team is entitled to one afternoon where the football gods are looking the other way and nothing goes to plan. It was one of those matches where even the corner flags seemed to be against us.
Crucially, a single bumpy ride shouldn't mean a downward spiral of form. A blip is just that, not a crisis.
The Perth squad has plenty of grit, character and quality in the locker to bounce right back.
So let's bin the tactical post-mortems, shake off the Perthshire rain and look ahead to Motherwell. Paint it off as a glitch in the matrix and get back to business.
St Johnstone midfielder Sam Stanton's ankle injury may end up keeping him out of Scottish Premiership action for a month. (The Courier, external)
Read Tuesday's Scottish Gossip in full.
Fotheringham challenge 'doesn't look great' - but was red card harsh?
Sportscene's Steven Thompson and James McFadden review Kai Fotheringham's red card in St Johnstone's 4-0 defeat by Rangers (UK only).
Rangers overwhelm St Johnstone in wild weather
Kevin Kelsy scores twice as Rangers comfortably defeat St Johnstone in the Scottish Premiership (UK only).
Rangers narrowed the gap to Celtic at the Scottish Premiership summit to one point as Kevin Kelsy's double helped them to an emphatic victory over St Johnstone.
Image source, SNSSt Johnstone manager Simo Valakari: "Disappointing result, no complaints. Rangers deserved to win.
"We could not handle. We changed a couple of things for the second half and played very well for the first 15 minutes. When you get your chances, you have to take them. We did not and with the quality of the opponent, they will take their chances and it's game over.
"We had a couple of close moments and that's the disappointment. You need to take your chances.
"I've seen [the red card] quickly and I think Kai is a little bit unlucky. He wins the ball but the follow through is high and caught the opponent. No complaints there."
David Currie
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter
Image source, SNSRangers manager Derek McInnes says he still uses notes from his first managerial job at St Johnstone almost two decades ago as he prepares to face the Perth side this weekend.
McInnes was an experienced and well-travelled midfielder at McDiarmid Park when he took the managerial reins in 2007 following Owen Coyle's exit to Burnley.
"I enjoyed my time there, they were good to me," said the 55-year-old.
"I still look at my notes from those days and the fundamentals of being a manager and the core values are the same in terms of what my team needs to look like. The rules and conditions about how the club works on and off the field.
"A lot of things tactically I think I want us to be. Sometimes just a wee check, looking back. There's a notepad I keep that I just add to every now and then.
"Just wee things that keeps me reminded about what's important. Because sometimes you just need that wee reminder.
"Sometimes you've got to evolve and change and players are different now.
"The circumstances are different in terms of the fallout when you lose a game. Everything's magnified now and everybody's got a comment to make. Whereas back then, it was just really about working closely with the players."
McInnes remembers exactly where he was - approaching the Broxden Roundabout just outside Perth - in autumn 2007 when he heard on the radio St Johnstone would be announcing their new manager the following morning.
What McInnes didn't know was that he was the new manager being referred to.
"The chairman hadn't even asked me!" he recalled. "And I did what I was told, to be honest, by (chairman) Geoff Brown.
"It was a shock and a pleasant surprise when he said to me he'd watched me and liked how I commanded respect, how I dealt with players and had contacts in the game and that he thought I was ready for it.
"So it wasn't a job I'd applied for or expected."
Image source, SNSDerek McInnes has half a dozen players - including Tuur Rommens and another key man - dealing with a sickness bug which has affected the squad.
Ross McCrorie, Cammy Devlin, Lawrence Shankland (all hamstring), Youssef Chermiti (knee) and Daisuke Yokota (groin) are still out.
St Johnstone are missing Sam Stanton, who has sustained an ankle injury.
