Kilmarnock is going to be a Wright good test
St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright is wary of the threat tonight’s opponents Kilmarnock pose.
The Perth squad make the journey to Rugby Park hoping to send visiting fans away for Christmas with an early gift.
Wright knows Killie have players who can win games out of nothing and will be urging his squad to continue their positive performances.
“Kilmarnock are a lot more consistent now, particularly at home in terms of their performance,”he said. “Lee has done a good job. “He has brought in a lot of loan players and while some haven’t worked out as he’d have hoped that is the same for any manager.
“Lee has had to deal with a few unfortunate injuries.
“But he has brought stability to the club and to the team.
“They play at a good tempo and want to press and play in the opposition half.
“Lee was a very good footballer but he was also someone who worked hard on the pitch when he didn’t have the ball.
“That had been drilled into him at Newcastle and you can see that reflected in his team now.
“They work hard for each other.
“But so do we and we have to make sure we maintain the level of performance of recent weeks, although maybe that isn’t reflected in the points we have taken.”
Wright highlighted the talent of Killie forward Souleymane Coulibaly,
Tommy Wright adding:“He can go into that category of player who can look ordinary at times but is capable of producing a bit of magic.
“That is a great sort of player to have in your team.
“We played him very well in Perth earlier in the season. I don’t think he had a chance. But we know he is a danger.
“He can produce goals out of nothing and has done that numerous times this season.
“He scores different types of goals, close range finishes, dribbling and spectacular efforts from outside the box.
“He is one that has to be watched but McKenzie has had a good season breaking from midfield, Smith is an experienced player and Tyson and the lad Jones have a bit of pace about them.
“So this won’t be an easy game.
“They are sitting in a decent position in the league so we have to make sure we do our utmost to get three points.”
Danny Swanson, Liam Craig and Steven Anderson have all been training this week and will be in the squad.