Boss hails return of midfield maestro
St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright has praised the influence and fitness of returning midfielder Murray Davidson.
Davidson, after suffering a broken ankle in October, was back in the Perth starting line-up on Saturday and offered a dominant performance in the centre of the park.
“Playing in that deeper role probably helped him get through the game but his general fitness is incredible,” said boss Wright.“He hadn’t played for five weeks but he was still going strong at the end.
“There’s probably no other player, with the exception of Steven MacLean, that I would have put right back in without a full 90 minutes under his belt.
“He was a big part in our success. We had probably missed him.
“He is probably best going box to box but Murray is an intelligent and adaptable footballer. He knows where to be to snuff out situations and gave good protection in there for our centre-backs.”
While the win was important on Saturday afternoon, Wright was particularly pleased with the clean sheet.
“The clean sheet was particularly important,”the Northern Irishman said.“We defended very well.
“They weren’t afraid to put in a lot of long balls into the box. But Anderson and Shaughnessy were back to their best. That gave us the platform to go on and win the game.
“We had to wait two weeks and the players showed a lot of
Danny Swanson (centre) rounded off the scoring on Saturday Midfielder Murray Davidson celebrates his strike
Inverness, who would finish bottom of the table come full time, were not non-existent in this contest but struggled to create any clear-cut chances to trouble goalkeeper Zander Clark.
Saints should have had an opportunity to double their advantage early in the second period.
It appeared that Wright’s men were denied a stonewall penalty when David Wotherspoon found the advancing Richard Foster, who had roamed freely from his right back berth.
The defender controlled and was bundled over by Gary Warren but referee Euan Anderson was not impressed and waved away all appeals.
Warren was not getting away with another one, however, and minutes later was flashed a second yellow card for persistent fouling. It was a 60th minute bath for the centrehalf.
The resulting free-kick resulted in Wotherspoon rolling the ball into the path of a dazed Swanson, who always looked dangerous when driving at pace at the visiting backline.
His first-time effort broke for Murray Davidson, who calmly controlled and found the far corner with a fine finish.
The central midfielder was making his first start since limping out of October’s warm-up against Rangers at Ibrox – and what a difference he made. Pts 37 29 27 24 22 17 16 15 15 15 14 14
Sitting just in front of the back four, Davidson was immense and controlled proceedings with a dominant performance which Perth fans have become used to in recent years.
A fine Saints display was rounded off on the 81st minute with a well-worked counterattacking goal.
Shaughnessy released Brian Easton down the left flank and the full-back produced a pinpoint delivery to find Swanson. He controlled with ease and dispatched into the bottom corner.
A trip to Pittodrie is up next for Tommy Wright and his players and, with Aberdeen only two points ahead of Saints, it’s sure to be a cracker. Liam Craig takes the plaudits after opening the scoring for Saints at Dunfermline was memorable.
“What makes that goal is the fans behind the goal, who had their blue and white away day. We went top of the league and went on to win it.
“The goal against Motherwell on the last day of the season to get Europe and my header against Dundee United to clinch top six that same season were nice too.
“There are a few good ones in there but now I’m hoping to score a few more before my time here is up.”
Craig got the ball rolling against Inverness on Saturday by netting the first before Murray Davidson and Danny Swanson sealed a vital three points.
Home form has been a problem recently but Craig said: “We hadn’t won in November and the way we lost to Partick and Ross County was worrying in terms of the home form.
“But I think you saw we’re back to our best with and without the ball. It was good to have three different goalscorers and if you look at the game we could have had a penalty.
“Cummins and Kane then came on and could have scored so we created chances. There are five games coming up now in December where there are points to be won.
“Hopefully we can and then we’ll be sitting nicely going into the break.”
A trip to Pittodrie to take on Aberdeen is next up for Saints and Craig knows it’s a game which presents a chance to continue the challenge in the upper half of the Scottish Premiership.
“There’s an opportunity to go above them or really close the gap again,” he said. “The manager is asking us to stay in touch with the teams above and keep on looking forward. The win on Saturday has set that up for us.”