Tanser’s positive thinking

Scott Tanser pointed to the importance of remaining positive after making his return to St Johnstone’s starting line-up on Saturday.

The full-back was reinstated to Tommy Wright’s 11 for the first time since the end of November.

Callum Booth has held the left-sided defensive position but Tanser was deployed in a more advanced role down the flank.

“I’m pleased with my performance,” said Tanser. “Obviously I haven’t been starting games recently.

“But I’ve been keeping my head up, the gaffer has given me a chance and I’ve taken it.

“I enjoy getting forward quite a lot and we’ve been working on that.

“Boothy (Callum Booth) has done well so I can’t say anything. He comes in and keeps clean sheets. That is what you want as a defender.

“You’ve just got to keep your head up. In football you drop out of the team, but you can’t let your head get down.”

Tanser’s more attacking role paid off for Perth management, with his two crosses paving the way for both goals.

“As a team performance, we went 1-0 up and looked comfortable then it’s a dubious penalty,” Tanser said. “But we dig in and in the end get our result.

“The gaffer said to me before the game to get crosses in as much as I can. That’s what I did.

“Ali got on the end of one and the second one it comes out to Dee (David Wotherspoon), but if you don’t put the cross in you don’t score.”

Celtic travel to McDiarmid for league action on Wednesday, with visiting fans getting three stands. Tanser hopes to get the nod and piece together a run of games from the start.

He said:“It’s going to be a tough game. But if we play like we did on Saturday, we’ll give it a go.

“I am confident we’ll get a good performance.”