Wright’s closing in on Conor loan deal

St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright is hoping to secure a loan deal for goalkeeper Conor Mitchell.

The Perth manager has the Northern Ireland youth international on his radar and the move could be completed imminently.

Mitchell (22), who is signed with Burnley, spent part of last season on loan at National League side Chester.

“We’ve got Conor Mitchell up from Burnley and we’re hoping to conclude a season-long loan deal in the next day or two,” Wright confirmed.

“He’s an under-21 international and with him and Mark Hurst there will be real competition for Zander.

“We’ve had four or five options but having brought Conor up, we’d like to get something done with him.”

One player who is signed up with the Perth club for the campaign ahead is new winger Matty Kennedy.

“If international clearance comes through he’ll be in the squad on Tuesday,”Wright said.

“He’s been keeping fit and on the testing we did on him yesterday I think only Murray Davidson would be ahead of him.”

Saints battled to a 1-0 Betfred Cup victory on Saturday afternoon with Tony Watt netting the only goal of the game.

Wright said:“In the context of the group we had to win it. Even winning on penalties wouldn’t have been ideal.

“So we’re pleased to have got the three points.

“The performance wasn’t all that we would have wanted but we’ve kept another clean sheet

and our goalkeeper wasn’t troubled.

“They hit the woodwork late on but we should have been out of sight by then. We’re still a work in progress but that’s the case with other teams.

“When you look at results elsewhere you can see that this competition can be a banana skin for Premiership clubs. There have been shocks.”

Falkirk are the visitors to McDiarmid Park tonight for Saints’third group game.

“It’s now in our hands. If we win our last two games we’ll top the group,” Wright added.

“On paper you could argue this is the toughest. The good thing is Falkirk need to win and they’ll have to have a bit of a go at us.

“I’m hoping we can put in a controlled performance and improve the quality in the last third.”

Saints will be without five first team players for tonight’s fixture.

“Brian Easton has settled down a bit. We thought he’d be getting an injection but he hasn’t. That’s good news,”the Perth manager said.

“Joe Shaughnessy is improving but he’ll miss out again. Chris Kane won’t make Saturday either, Ali McCann is out and so is Greg Hurst.”