"He was raging, he was absolutely raging," Kearney said. "He was livid, that would maybe be the best way to describe it. And rightfully so.

"I would rather see that type of emotion. It's easy to see that Jack cares, it's easy to see that he's a winner, and that he wants to play.

"I didn't speak to him at half-time, I didn't speak to him after the game. Just from experience, I let the dust settle overnight and I pulled him this morning for a chat in the office.

"We had a good chat and he is fully understanding and fully accepting of why it happened, but fully honest to say he just wants to play football.

"People say he didn't shake my hand, and it's disrespectful, but I don't buy into that. It was just red mist at that point and pure rage."

Captain Stephen McGinn went off with a hamstring injury as the Buddies fell three points adrift at the bottom of the Ladbrokes Premiership.

And the midfielder is certain to miss Saturday's William Hill Scottish Cup tie against Dundee United.

"We checked him out and the hamstring is still quite sore," Kearney said.

"It's early days. I think we got him off the pitch early enough, which is a positive, but it will probably be a few days before we know the extent."

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