ST JOHNSTONE'S historic double winners were finally reunited with their fans after a 16-month wait tonight.
The Perth outfit welcomed Preston North End to McDiarmid Park and 1,000 lucky season ticket holders were able to take in the action in the Perthshire sunshine.
A first half stunner from Preston’s Ben Whiteman was cancelled out by a David Wotherspoon effort in the second period, but for Saints boss Callum Davidson it was an emotional moment as he took charge of his first game in front of supporters.
He said: “I want to thank the fans. I wanted to clap them after the game as I didn’t think it was appropriate to do it before. I’m glad we got a decent result so they actually clapped me instead of booing me!
“I want to thank them for coming. It was great to see and it does change the game. You can tell they change the atmosphere. I am just over the moon they are back in and hopefully we can get a few more in soon.”
Shaun Rooney spectacularly scored in the same minute in both the league and Scottish Cup finals last term and fans saluted the right-back during his 32nd minute at McDiarmid Park.
Davidson admitted it was a lovely touch by the home fans. He continued: “Shaun got the ball and he started running back up the pitch! I was wondering what he was going to do with the ball, I think it put him off more than anything else!
“It was a great moment for Shaun and all the players. It was a unique situation him scoring in both finals at that time.”
Saints looked the brighter of the two teams in the pre-season clash and should have probably taken the win with Rooney, Ali McCann and Stevie May all having chances.
Despite only sharing the spoils, Davidson was delighted with the showing of his players, who are preparing for European football next month.
He added: “I am really pleased. I thought the first half we played pretty well. We pressed and had really good intensity.
“We created good goal scoring opportunities and were done by a wonder goal. I actually thought it was going miles over.
“We go a goal down, but I thought we responded really well. You could see their attitude.
“I was always going to make changes at 60 minutes and it was great to see some of the younger players.”
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