I never doubted the character of my players – St Johnstone boss Simo Valakari

Simo Valakari believes St Johnstone passed a major examination of their Scottish Premiership credentials in a breathless 4-3 victory over Kilmarnock.

The top-flight new-boys went ahead twice and were dominant on the ball but trailed 3-2 in the 53rd minute.

Valakari made key attacking substitutions and Saints rallied again to deservedly take three points from a thriller.

“That was a test of character,” said Valakari, whose side came up as William Hill Championship winners last term.

“Would we be this team who plays nice football in the Premiership but concedes goals and loses?

“Our boys took control from the start, pushed our opponent back and scored a good goal.

“We were disappointed to go in 1-1 at half-time and it was a test after we went 3-2 down very quickly.

“How the players pushed until the end was very good. That’s what football is all about – all about emotions and suffering in parts of the game.

“The Premiership is different; there was a lot of talk about that. We were up against a good, well-coached team.

“We won’t get carried away – we know how thin the lines are. All we have from this match is three points.

“We know there are a lot of things we need to improve on. But, as a football fan and a football romantic, it was a beautiful match.

“I never doubted the character of my players.”

Josh Fowler gave Saints a 16th-minute lead but Greg Kiltie equalised against the run of play.

Cheick Diabate’s header put the home side back in front after 47 minutes but two quick goals from Joe Hugill and Jason Holt – into his own net – somehow saw Killie lead.

Michael Schjonning-Larsen put through his own net and Kai Fotheringham grabbed Saints a late winner.

Valakari was thrilled to see Fowler, with only two goals in his first 17 Saints games, on the scoresheet.

He said: “Strikers live for goals. Strikers need to do a lot in my team – defending, running without the ball.

“In pre-season we tried a few different things and Josh started to doubt a little bit where he was with this team.

“How he trained this week, I only had one option – to start him. It was a very good goal he scored and his work around the pitch was also very good.”

Kilmarnock manager Neil McCann conceded his side were second best.

“We were really poor; we are much better than that,” McCann said. “I don’t think we played enough good football to even merit being 3-2 up.

“But when you get there, you shouldn’t lose from that.

“The fourth was a ridiculous goal to lose. We let ourselves down, the club down, the fans down.”