END 2016 ON A REAL HIGH
Wright urges side to gear up for festive double-header and go into winter break on a positive note
Tommy Wright is urging his squad of players to enter the winter break on a high.
And the Perth manager hopes to kick that off with a positive result against Rangers on Wednesday evening in what will be McDiarmid Park’s final home game of 2016.
Saints, who sit comfortably in fifth in the Scottish Premiership, remain in touch with Hearts, Aberdeen and this week’s opponents.
“We like to keep things nice and quiet,” Wright told the Perthshire Advertiser. “We just do what we have to do each game, we’ve only lost six games and have a great away record stretching back to April.
“I think we’re a team nobody likes to play but whether we can get enough wins consistently to break into the three above us who knows.
“They all probably have a bit more quality than us, although we have different qualities which make up for that. Whether that will be enough to break in with them, we’ll have to wait and see.
“This league is so tight, look at the teams below us, so we want to finish 2016 well.
“If we can get more than three points from the next two games, then it will be an excellent end to the year and set us up nicely for coming back.
“All we’re focused on is getting points in this game and then move on to the next one.
“I went to the Rangers game last weekend and thought Inverness were unlucky.
“They probably should have been ahead at half-time and made Wes Foderingham make a good save towards the end.
“Rangers are in good form, that’s four wins on the bounce now but you would expect them to go on runs like that because they have a very good squad.
“It’s going to be a difficult game for us but we’re at home and the crowd that’s going to be there will help us. I think our players will be lifted by it and will respond to the atmosphere.”
Wright’s squad made life difficult for Rangers at Ibrox earlier in the season during a game which finished locked at 1-1. The Perth boss reckons his side has the ability to again cause problems.
“Rangers rely on possession football but not many teams other than Celtic have dominated us,” he explained.
“I like possession football but it’s not the be all and end all because the facts show it’s not always the team with most possession who win.
“That’s the same in every league across the world.
“We played Motherwell here recently and had 65 per cent possession but didn’t win the game. So it’s all about where you have possession and what you do with the ball when you’ve got it.
“I think we’ve got enough in our squad if we move the ball well, get it into Rangers half, then we can cause them problems.
“Rangers have tried to get the ball into the opposition’s half quicker and gone a bit longer Saints boss Tommy Wright wants 2016 to end on a high, starting with victory over Rangers
with their passing at times.
“I think they’ve felt teams have camped in against them and when they make that extra two or three passes it helps the opposition do that.
“They are a good side and if you let them play they can hurt you. Martyn Waghorn is back scoring goals as well, so that is a big help to them.
“They have won four in a row, which is a good stat if you’re at another club, but there it’s just a stat because you are expected to win.
“The expectation there hasn’t changed, it comes with the territory of being at Rangers and Mark knows that.”
Suspended Murray Davidson and injured Michael Coulson will miss out for Saints but Wright is pleased with the options at his disposal.
He said: “Murray is suspended and Michael will be out, but Steven MacLean is back in the squad.
“Chris Millar will be fine as well, we might have to look at it for Saturday depending on how he feels but for the Rangers game he’ll be okay.
“It has been a long time since he played ninety minutes but he came through it well.
“We have options with the likes of Paul Paton as well.”