Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Ando demands Saints reaction
ST JOHNSTONE skipper Steven Anderson said his team have got the 3-0 away loss against Aberdeen “out of our system”.
The Perth side played poorly that day and went down to an Adam Rooney hat-trick.
“It feels a long time since the Aberdeen game where we were very poor. We should have been far better defensively,” Ando added.
“We will be looking to react against Rangers at McDiarmid Park tomorrow night.
“We definitely have a lot of character in the squad and will be looking to rectify that result.”
Saints are without on-loan Michael O’Halloran, who can’t play against his parent club, and the suspended Richard Foster.
David Wotherspoon and Denny Johnstone received niggling injuries in Dave M a c k a y ’s testimonial against Dundee but should be OK.
Meanwhile, Saints U/20s lost 5-0 away to Hibs and coach Alec Cleland is less than happy.
He said: “We defended so poorly at all the goals.
“We just followed on from last week. We were so poor defensively when we lost four goals at home against Hearts.
“If you can’t defend, it doesn’t matter how many shots you have, how good the players you have up top and in midfield. If you can’t defend, you are never going to win any games.
“The defensive side was neglected by us at Hibs but it is neglected by a lot of teams.
“You look at all the best teams and they can defend properly.”
After making several appearances from the substitutes bench in recent weeks, 16-year-old striker John Robertson, signed in the summer, made his first start for the U/20s and Alec said: “John did all right.”