St Johnstone mounted a dramatic late fightback to claim a 2-2 draw against Dundee in the cinch Premiership at McDiarmid Park.
The visitors dominated proceedings for long spells and found themselves in command thanks to Scott Tiffoney’s opener and Ricki Lamie finding the net on his Dundee debut.
The introduction of Max Kucheriavyi was to change the game. The Ukrainian came off the bench to hand Saints a lifeline with eight minutes remaining and then popped up in the sixth minute stoppage time to earn Steven Maclean’s side an unlikely share of the spoils.
The hosts almost found themselves a goal in front after two minutes when Graham Carey’s corner was deflected skywards and was eventually met by Sam McClelland, who really should have at least found the target with his header from close range.
Joe Shaughnessy nodded over and Tiffoney’s tame effort was comfortably gathered as Dundee began to threaten the Saints goal.
Tiffoney went close when Dimitar Mitov could only partially clear Zach Robinson’s cross, but the winger’s low shot drifted wide.
On the half-hour mark, Amadou Bakayoko curled an effort inches past the post and they would finally be rewarded for their pressure five minutes later when they opened the scoring.
A well-worked free-kick ended with Bakayoko rising at the far post to head Finlay Robertson’s cross beyond Mitov.
A VAR check would follow to establish whether Tiffoney had made contact with the ball prior to it hitting the net before the goal was eventually awarded, much to the delight of the large travelling support.
Steven McLean introduced Chris Kane and Cammy McPherson into the action eight minutes after the restart as the Saints boss looked to give his side a desperately required spark, but it was to have little impact.
Dundee continued to look the more likely and Bakayoko’s brought out a good save from the Saints keeper before they extended their lead from the resulting corner.
Owen Beck’s pin-point delivery was rocketed high into the net by Lamie, who celebrated wildly after netting his first goal since joining the Dee on loan from Motherwell earlier in the week.
A defensive lapse by McClelland almost heaped further misery on the home side. Luke McCowan robbed the defender before rolling the ball through to Tiffoney, who was denied by an excellent save by Mitov.
St Johnstone almost grabbed a lifeline when Kane’s volley beat Trevor Carson, but rebounded back off the crossbar.
They would set up a dramatic finish with eight minutes left as Kucheriavyi stooped to head Carey’s cross past Carson for Saints’ first Premiership goal of the season.
Kane then headed into the arms of the Dundee keeper and James Brown blazed over the top as St Johnstone looked to complete a remarkable turnaround.
They were almost hit on the counter as the fourth official signalled five minutes of added time as Zak Rudden raced through on goal before guiding his effort into the side-netting.
Dundee looked set to comfortably see out the victory, though, they would suffer late heartache when Kucheriavyi slid the ball home from Luke Robinson’s cutback six minutes into added time to snatch a point for the home side.
Allegri says Juventus future will become clear in next two weeks
Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri said questions regarding his future will be resolved in the next couple of weeks after the Bianconeri's slump continued with Sunday's 1-1 draw with Salernitana.
Juve looked set for a humiliating Serie A loss at home to Stefano Colantuono's already-relegated side, only for Adrien Rabiot to equalise in stoppage time.
It was a fifth straight league draw for Allegri's side, who have slipped to fourth in Serie A, seven points behind second-placed Milan and level with Bologna in third.
Juve were neck-and-neck with recently crowned Scudetto winners Inter at the turn of the year, and their dismal end to the season has seen Allegri's position called into question.
Asked about his future on Sunday, Allegri said: "Just be patient a little bit longer, in 10 to 15 days you'll know what will happen next year.
"Anyone who has played football knows that even the great teams can experience a moment of difficulty when the games become tough. We will certainly have to grow."
Wednesday's Coppa Italia final against in-form Atalanta presents an opportunity for redemption.
"The final against a team like Atalanta that has grown a lot will certainly be balanced," Allegri said. "It's a one-off game and we will have to try to make as few mistakes as possible.
Regarding Sunday's match, the 56-year-old said the performance was not satisfactory but stressed the importance of avoiding defeat.
"We started reasonably well, then made a mistake in our decision-making. We became disjointed and we didn't hold our positions," he said.
"You can't lose a match like that, otherwise you risk never picking yourselves back up again."
Atalanta not favourites for Coppa Italia final against Juventus, insists Gasperini
Atalanta do not consider themselves favourites for Wednesday's Coppa Italia final against Juventus despite their strong form, says coach Gian Piero Gasperini.
Atalanta have enjoyed a fantastic season, reaching the Europa League final – where they will face unbeaten Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen on May 22 – and the Coppa Italia showpiece.
La Dea are also in the driving seat to secure Italy's fifth Champions League place for next season, after Sunday's 2-1 home win over Roma took them three points clear of the Giallorossi with a game in hand.
On Wednesday, an out-of-form Juve side await Atalanta at the Stadio Olimpico, as Gasperini seeks his first trophy with the club he joined back in 2016.
"I think it's a bit much to suggest we'd be favourites against Juve. We are in good form, but it's difficult to tell playing every three days," Gasperini told DAZN on Sunday.
"Naturally, we go into this Coppa Italia final with great enthusiasm."
Atalanta's Milan loanee Charles De Ketelaere produced another fine performance against Roma, scoring twice inside 20 minutes.
With 13 goals and nine assists, he is one of three Atalanta players to record 22 goal involvements in all competitions this season, alongside Gianluca Scamacca (17 goals, five assists) and Teun Koopmeiners (15 goals, seven assists).
Manchester City and Leverkusen (four apiece) are the only teams in Europe's top five leagues with more players with at least 22 direct goal involvements.
"Everyone knew he could play, or Milan would not have made an investment like that. He deserves the credit, he was going all over the place, right, left and centre tonight," Gasperini said of De Ketelaere.
Lorenzo Pellegrini reduced the deficit for the visitors with a penalty after 66 minutes, but overall Atalanta were dominant.
While Gasperini was happy with the win, he did not enjoy the wastefulness of his side.
"I don't know if we've learned a lesson, other than we had so many scoring opportunities and did not aim properly, otherwise we would have killed it off a lot earlier," he said.
"Failing to win this match really would have caused us a lot of problems."
Vilahamn wants to use FA Cup final defeat as 'beginning' for Tottenham Women
Tottenham Women manager Robert Vilahamn believes his side will use their FA Cup final defeat to start something special, rather than ending their good work.
Spurs were hammered 4-0 by Manchester United Women in Sunday's Wembley Stadium showpiece as Ella Toone and Rachel Williams were on target before Lucia Garcia's second-half double.
Vilahamn's side failed to manage a shot on target but the Spurs boss suggested his team will catch up to the women's elite clubs.
"The main thing I said was this is not the end, it is the beginning," Vilahamn said.
"We still have a gap between us and the top teams but that's normal. We are closing the gap but we haven't closed the gap yet."
Tottenham finished sixth in the Women's Super League as well as reaching this final, their first FA Cup showpiece appearance in their short history.
Vilahamn wants his Spurs players to use this defeat as motivation going forward.
"If you take away the feelings right now, you need to look at these players doing some incredible things this year," he said.
"We are at Wembley playing in front of our fans and they are actually enjoying it and staying, and supporting us after.
"We got a good experience today and we are learning how to play at Wembley more times. We need to look at it that way because the players are amazing."
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