Falkirk assistant Alex Smith revealed he has assumed a more hands-on role as he bids to steer rookie manager Eddie May through a nightmare start to the season.

Smith was appointed in the summer to oversee May and number two Steven Pressley's fledgling managerial career but the 3-1 defeat to St Johnstone leaves them still searching for their first league victory.

The Bairns are now four points adrift of Hamilton at the foot of the table and Smith said: "We just feel that we want to use all our assets as much as we can.

"For most of the season up until last week I've been in the stand and we felt before last week's game we would work together and bounce things off each other in the dugout, rather than anywhere else.

"I was just trying to inspire the players to get back into the game and to believe in themselves.

"Every single person involved in the club has to pull together, but mainly the players and the management.

"We're a new management team, with two very young, promising managers wanting to learn the game.

"We have to do it in a way where they can get as much knowledge and information as quickly as possible. When it's hot during the game, that's when it's most needed.

"We need to share the load. We know we have a lot of work to do so we have to share it in a way that is in the best interests of the football club."

Having worked their way back into the game with Carl Finnigan's equaliser following Collin Samuel's opener, Smith accused the Bairns of committing suicide with slack defending as they went down to two goals in the space of three minutes in the second half, the second the result of a mistake from keeper Robert Olejnik.

He added: "We got a great start to the second half. It was an inspirational goal for us and it looked at that stage that we could maybe have gone on to win it.

"But we conceded a very poor second goal from our own attack and then we committed hari kari."

St Johnstone manager Derek McInnes admitted his side looked to have been struck by nerves in a crucial match at the bottom end of the table.

But he praised his players for getting the goals they desperately needed to secure a first home league victory of the season.

He said: "Every win is hard fought for in this league and every point is hard fought for so I'm absolutely delighted to come away with the three points.

"We got off to a great start and flew out of the traps, as we asked them to do. We put them on the back foot, asked a lot of questions of them and we could have been out of sight.

"You always think it might come back to haunt you and possibly the players and the supporters thought that.

"I think there was an edginess and a nervousness about the whole game. It was a big game for both clubs.

"Credit to Falkirk for getting their goal in the second half but we responded when we had to and on chances created I think we deserved the win.

"The players deserve all the credit in the world for digging deep and making sure the points stayed in Perth. It was a big win."