Goal-shy Saints slip to defeat
LIVINGSTON .............................................. 2 ST JOHNSTONE ......................................... 0
Jamie McCart did not mince his words when dissecting St Johnstone’s performance against Livingston: “Poor, lacklustre and not good enough.”
The central defender was visibly angered by what the Perth side offered up in a game which was never in danger of threatening the classic matches of 2020 video reel.
Shipping two goals was, of course, a frustration. But the root cause of Saints’ poor run of results has been their inability to find the back of the net.
That’s now only four goals scored in the opening nine Premiership matches, with Callum Davidson’s misfiring men failing to notch in any of the past three.
On Saturday, Livingston ultimately secured their victory in the space of two first half minutes which had Perth fans watching online tearing their hair out.
Striker Scott Tiffoney opened the scoring on 33 minutes after Michael O’Halloran had been dispossessed.
Saints barely had time to reset when the hosts doubled their advantage and this time Tiffoney was the architect.
He teed-up Alan Forrest whose curling, low effort found the bottom corner despite the best efforts of returning goalkeeper Zander Clark.
“It’s not the first time this season that it has not been good enough,”McCart added. “We all know and the gaffer has told us. Something has to change and we need to do something on the park.
“We’ve really got to take control as a set of players and try to change our fortunes because it is just not good enough at the moment.”
There were, as has been the case in other defeats this season, promising chances for Saints.
Stevie May, who netted the team’s last goal against St Mirren at the end of August, had a couple of opportunities.
The first was on 17 minutes but he diverted over the bar after Murray Davidson had flicked into his path.
Then home goalkeeper Robby McCrorie made a smart close range stop after the Perth forward had got on the end of Craig Conway’s delivery.
After the break, substitute Callum Hendry had an effort cleared off the line by former Saint Jason Holt.
Saints sit second bottom and, for all of McCart’s disappointment, he insists this is no time to push the panic button.
“We need to keep our confidence,”he explained.“There is no need to panic.
“We have had poor results but we know within ourselves that we’re capable of much more.
“We need to find that confidence, keep doing the right things and try to take that onto the pitch at the weekend.”
It does not get any easier with Celtic visiting McDiarmid Park this weekend.
McCart said:“Playing the champions, it’s always going to be a difficult game.
“We just need to stick together, prepare for it right and hope that we can take something from the game.
“We know it will be a difficult challenge but at this point we really need to start picking points up.”
St Johnstone line-up: Clark, Tanser, McCart, Kerr (Rooney 82), Conway (Wotherspoon 77), Davidson, O’Halloran, May, McNamara (Gordon 52), McCann, Craig (Hendry 52). Subs not used: Parish, Olaofe, Robertson.