KERR’S BACK WITH A BANG Boss Wright hails return of 21-year-old defender
Matty Willock in training ahead of tonight’s trip to Motherwell. Picture: PPA Tommy Wright has been pleased with how defender Jason Kerr has settled back in at Saints Tommy Wright has tipped Jason Kerr for the top following the central defender’s seamless transition to life in the Scottish Premiership.
Having returned from a productive loan spell at Queen of the South, the 21-year-old was thrown into action against Hearts on Saturday.
Wright, who thinks Kerr will soon be attracting the interest of other clubs, said: “Jason has been excellent in the two games since he came into the team.
“He now has to stay there but from what we know of him he’s a player with a very bright future.
“People have been talking about Jack Hendry moving to Celtic and Scott McKenna up at Aberdeen, I think Jason is in that bracket with them. He can be every bit as good as them.
“He just has to keep doing what he’s doing and I’ve no doubt clubs will be taking a keen interest in him in the future.
“We have managed his development well, it has been all about getting senior games into him when he’s been on loan with a view to coming back here ready to go into our first team.
“Jason is a player we have liked for a long time but he needed experience and the pathway to getting that was playing as much as possible in the lower leagues.
“He’s just about to turn 21 (today) and he’s played over 100 senior games already.
“By going out on loan to play proper football he’s matured and has come back the player we always thought he would be.
“He went into the Hearts game and looked excellent.
“This week will be a different test for him because Curtis Main and Nadir Ciftci have formed a good partnership.
“But he’s got the experience he needs to cope with whatever is thrown at him now.”
Wright hailed the performance of his players despite their 1-0 defeat on Saturday but knows dominant spells in games must be turned into points.
“I was delighted with Matty Willock, we knew he had a lot of quality,” the Northern Irishman said.
“Match fitness is the thing with him, he’s not played at the intensity and tempo of the game up here
before. He cramped up a bit after an hour on Saturday but that was something we expected and we will have to manage him properly.
“There is no doubt he’s got a lot of quality on the ball and he’s got energy, so he’s a player we’re excited about.
“I watched the ninety minutes back and I’m even more convinced we should have won the game.
“It was an excellent performance and we controlled the game.
“Even though we dominated Hearts they were clinical and punished us for the mistake we made.
“We went to sleep for a second and lost the match because of it.”
Saints make the journey to Fir Park this evening for a crucial Premiership clash with Motherwell.
“We might make a couple of changes against Motherwell,”Wright said.
“Nobody is feeling sorry for themselves, the players know how well they played and we want to kick on.
“We are still positive and will take confidence from the performance.
“Our away form has been pretty good – hopefully we keep that going at Motherwell now.
“We have changed formation to three at the back and that’s an option I now have. We have a strong midfield, strikers who like to play in a two, full-backs who like to get forward and good centre-halves.
“It’s something we have done before and I know we have that available to us if we need to play that way.”
Zander Clark and Aaron Comrie should be available for selection tonight after returning from injury.
Wright added:“The only player we have missing is David Wotherspoon because he’s banned, even though he shouldn’t be.”