The Under-19s were narrowly defeated 3-2 by Dundee in the Club Academy Scotland Performance/Advanced Youth league on Tuesday evening.
It was a positive start from the young Saints with plenty of hard work on display – and that was rewarded with the opener.
Murray Binnie did well to pick up possession before working into a promising area and cutting the ball back for Lucas Louden to finish.
Despite having an opportunity to build on the advantage, it was Dundee who managed to work their way back into the game and flipped the script by half-time to lead 2-1.
That lead was extended to 3-1 midway through the second half but Saints continued to battle to find a route back into the contest.
Dougal McAdam netted from the penalty spot in the closing stages but it proved too little too late for the Saints.
Coach Danny Griffin said: “We battled away well in the first half and worked hard to shut Dundee down.
“It was a good press and cut-back from Murray for Lucas’ goal and we actually had another good chance a couple of minutes after that.
“Going into half-time 2-1 down was a blow for us because, as I said, we’d worked hard. But we got them in at half-time and chatted about what we had done well and what we could improve on.”
Danny added: “In the second half, Dundee started putting us under pressure and were keeping the ball well.
“There were a few changes within the game and we did start to come back into it. We get the penalty in the 90th minute but the final whistle followed soon after.
“There was some good in the performance, some bad but plenty of learning curves for the team.”
