TOMMY ADDS TO WISH LIST Saints to bolster defence
Tommy Wright has pointed to a “crucial” January transfer window as he seeks to bring in an experienced defender.
The St Johnstone manager believes it is important to welcome a centre-half who has games behind him and is able to help the younger players.
Saints have conceded the joint most goals in the league this term with 28 – Ross County are the same – and only one clean sheet has been secured in 12 matches.
Wright is ready to call on experience to tighten things up and said: “January is going to be a crucial window for everybody, particularly from our point of view.
“I do feel I am one experienced centre-back away from a really good squad. It will help the likes of Jason Kerr, Liam Gordon and Wallace Duffy.
“That will be our main priority in the window.”
Perth players were back in at training yesterday morning and reflecting on a 4-1 home defeat against Hibernian which now has them second-from-bottom.
“It’s frustrating but I’m not going to bash the players too much,” said Wright. “We know it’s going to be up and down this season, particularly with the young players at the back.
“It’s frustrating we missed an opportunity [against Hibs] and frustrating that we gifted them the first goal.
“From a situation of a dangerous ball in their box, they have one punt down the pitch which should have been dealt with.
“We may have been playing a team low on confidence but we gave them the perfect lift.
“We’re not out of the woods yet and it has an affect on us.
“It lifted Hibs and demoralises us a little bit. It’s a long-playing record, the same old story. We keep shooting ourselves in the foot.
“We’ve been naive in our defending again and that has cost us dearly.”
Despite winning twice in 12 games, Saints remain only four points behind sixth-placed Ross County.
“It’s going to be a tough season for everybody and we obviously haven’t started well,” Wright continued.
“The perception is that Ross County are doing brilliantly and also Livingston because they beat Celtic. But they are only three points ahead of us.
“You would imagine the two Edinburgh clubs, with the resources they have, will still end up near the top six.
“That leaves five, possibly six, other clubs you could put a blanket over. It’s so tight and even a draw would’ve been a good result for us on Saturday. “Now we have another two weeks before a game. We know these breaks come, but we have been really stop-start. “If you get three or four decent results you can soon shoot up the table. We know the areas we need to get better in.” Saints are without a game this weekend due to the international break but David Wotherspoon, Matty Kennedy and Ali McCann are on duty. The club’s next competitive fixture comes on Sunday, November 24 when Aberdeen make the trip to McDiarmid Park. Wright said: “We’ll have a bounce game this week against Dundee for the ones who haven’t played.”