Saints suffer a big dose of the New Year BLUES in loss at Dens Park
Disappointing finish to 2016 but Perth side placed well
Dundee ........................ 3 St Johnstone ............... 0
Former Saint Marcus Haber navigates beyond midfielder Paul Paton on Saturday afternoon Perth fans suffered a dose of the New Year blues after watching their side fall to a disappointing derby day defeat against Dundee.
This Scottish Premiership clash, St Johnstone’s last of 2016, was set up to be a cracker with a large travelling support making the journey along the A90.
But they would watch Tommy Wright’s men ship three goals without reply and suffer their first defeat in the month of December.
While the result was a bit of a Hogmanay horror, Saints can be pleased with their work heading into the winter break having engineered themselves into a comfortable fifth-place standing.
Dundee, on the other hand, moved up to eighth and they took the lead in the game after only 15 minutes of play clocked on referee Don Robertson’s watch.
Home midfielder Paul McGowan broke at pace and found former Saints forward Marcus Haber on the right flank.
His curling delivery across the face of goal was dangerous and the impressive Faissal El Bakhtaoui was on hand to provide a composed finish which left Zander Clark with little chance.
Perth boss Wright made three changes to the side who drew 1-1 with Rangers during the week, with Liam Craig, Murray Davidson and Danny Swanson all coming in to freshen things up.
And it was Swanson who attempted to get Saints level as he glided towards goal after 23 minutes. The attacking midfielder was brought down by Cammy Kerr and Saints