Loan star Brown has Lion heart
TOMMY WRIGHT has blasted keeper Mark Hurst for walking out on St Johnstone and letting his team-mates down.
The 23-year-old has shadowed Zander Clark for most of the campaign but the goalie has left the Perth boss stunned by opting to join his girlfriend in the USA with two months still left on his contract.
With the Saints No.1 injured, Wright has been forced to fasttrack untested teenager Ross Sinclair to back up experienced January recruit Cammy Bell for today’s clash with Livingston.
Wright said: “Mark just walked into my office, said he was leaving and that was that. I thought I’d seen everything in football but clearly not.
“It leaves us in a bit of a dilemma and I don’t think it reflects well on him because he’s let his team-mates down.
“He can’t go anywhere and play because he’s under contract BY GORDON BANNERMAN here. Obviously it’s something we didn’t plan for and the timing isn’t the best with Zander still out injured.
“So the impact isn’t good for us and also the impact on Mark’s career too because when you just walk out on a club like that it doesn’t reflect well.
“He could have waited until the end of the season or done it in January when we could have brought someone else in.
“The timing of it is totally wrong but it’s done now and we will move on.”
Scotland Under-18 cap Sinclair, 17, was farmed out to Lowland League side Glasgow BSC and enjoyed a trial at Liverpool earlier in the season.
Wright is confident in putting him on the bench this afternoon for the trip to Livingston because “he trains with the first team every day anyway”.
Saints haven’t won since they beat Livi 1-0 after returning from the January break.
With games running out before the split, Wright knows wins are vital to claw their way back into the top six.
He said: “Livingston’s home record is very good and they’ve had a great season.
“They are one of the four teams fighting it out for the top six and will believe they can get there.
“So this is a big game for both teams. We want to get out of the run we’re in at the moment.
“Livingston have a lot of quality in their team as well as the work ethic and the twice we have played them it has been 1-0 which shows how tight it’s been.
“Every team outside the top four have had bad runs this season but I am confident we have the experience and know-how to get through it.
“If we can go on a run between now and the split, which I believe we can do, we’ll have a good chance of getting in the top six. But it’s going to be very tight so we need to start winning quickly.”
Winger Matt Kennedy also believes Saints have what it takes to arrest their recent slide.
He said: “We did well at Livi earlier in the season, we were the first team to win there so that helped us go on a run.
“I think we went eight games unbeaten so hopefully we can do something similar now.
“We haven’t been ourselves lately but I think against Hibs and Aberdeen you could see us getting back to our best in spells.
“The bad run is something we need to get out of but the lads are confident we can do that, there’s plenty of optimism here.
“We have five games until the split and they are all winnable so we want to get going again.
“Livi test you in a different way to most teams in the league but we have won there already this season so we will be hoping to do it again this time round.” BY ALAN MARSHALL CIARON BROWN reckons Cardiff boss Neil Warnock sent him to Livingston to toughen him up.
But the defender, 21, is adamant he can handle the rough-and-tumble of Scottish football after graduating from the school of hard knocks south of the border.
Brown was pitched into men’s football at the tender age of 16 when he lined up for Bedfont Sports in the 10th tier of the English game – quickly becoming accustomed to bruising strikers, rutted pitches and heckling punters.
So it is no surprise to see Brown slot seamlessly into Livi’s imposing backline after finally cementing his place in the side in their last two league fixtures.
He said: “I’m young so the gaffer at Cardiff probably thought I needed to be toughened up even more.
“But I didn’t come up here thinking, ‘It’s going to be too physical’. I enjoy all of that.
“I’ve been through playing adult football as a 16-year-old! Coming through the ranks, that definitely helped me.”
An injury to Ricki Lamie has afforded Brown the opportunity to shine and he’s determined to keep hold of the jersey ahead of today’s visit of St Johnstone.
He added: “I knew I wasn’t going to just walk into the team and I’d have to wait for an opportunity.
“Luckily that has come and I don’t want to give that up now.”