Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Wright delighted by team reaction
ST JOHNSTONE boss Tommy Wright praised the reaction his depleted team showed as they secured a well-deserved Premiership victory over Hearts l ast night.
The home side were without Danny Swanson and Ricky Foster following the pair’s on-field dispute at Hamilton on Saturday and the manager made three changes to his starting line-up with Clive Smith, David Wotherspoon and Steven MacLean entering the fray.
Wright explained: “Football’s all about doing the right things at the right time, and winning games, and making sure when your opportunities come along you take them.
“We’ve t aken a good opportunity and I’m a very pleased manager because it’s been a tough week for everybody at the club.”
St Johnstone have opened a five-point gap on Hearts and are now just six points behind third-placed Rangers.
He continued: “There’s nothing to say if we get the right run of results we can’t close the gap on Rangers and maybe put the pressure on them — but six points is maybe asking too much.
“If that was to happen it would be a tremendous achievement.”
Wright confirmed t he Perth club will release a statement regarding the future of Swanson and Foster within 24 hours.
Meanwhile, Hearts head coach Ian Cathro confirmed Sam Nicholson was sent off for allegedly spitting at an assistant referee — but stressed t here was no malice i n t he winger’s behaviour.
“My understanding from Sam and from the players around the situation there was no way of being able to read that as an aggressive thing.
“We s u f fe r t w ic e in games with this referee. It was the same situation at Partick Thistle. I think there were some parts in that game where he was a little bit quick — but let’s leave that there.”