A SUREFIRE HIT
Wright backs Watt to quickly regain his scoring touch
ST JOHNSTONE boss Tommy Wright has backed Tony Watt to rediscover the award-winning form that saw the former Celtic striker target a Scotland recall. Watt, who famously scored the winner against Barcelona in a Champions League clash at Parkhead, was named Premiership player of the month for August after scoring four goals in five games for the Perth side.
After starting the season on fire, the 24-year-old attacker spoke about his burning desire to win a Scotland call-up to add to his one cap against the Czech Republic in 2016.
Since then, however, Watt has suffered the frustration of a six-game goal drought on top of a series of niggling injuries.
Wright is confident the goals will start flowing again and Watt is set to lead the line for his Saints side against struggling St Mirren at McDiarmid Park today.
‘I’m not overly concerned,’ said the Northern Irishman. ‘Tony’s had a foot injury, he’s had a rib injury and that’s maybe affected him a little bit.
‘But in the recent games we’ve played, he hasn’t really had many chances.
‘There were a couple at Ibrox and one at Hearts that spring to mind.
‘But he’s getting into good positions and he’ll get back to scoring sooner rather than later.
‘As long as the team wins, I’m not bothered where the goals come from.
‘But, like all strikers, Tony will be wanting to find the back of the net.’
Wright’s men bounced back from a painful 6-0 hiding from Celtic to snatch a last-gasp 1-0 win at Motherwell last weekend.
‘It’s important that we build on last week’s result and are not complacent,’ cautioned Wright.
‘Knowing the players, I don’t think complacency will be a problem.
‘We need to be as hard to beat as we were at Motherwell and we want to be on the front foot.
‘People have asked: “Is it a game you should win?”. But I never buy into that.
‘It’s disrespectful to think you should win because of the opposition you’re playing.
‘But I do believe that, if we do what we did against Motherwell, we’ve got enough quality to get three points.’
Scott Tanser endured a torrid time when James Forrest notched four first-half strikes for Celtic in that thrashing before the international break.
But the English defender reckons Saints showed their mettle by bouncing back at Fir Park, with defensive duo Joe Shaughnessy and Liam Gordon patched up after taking head wounds.
‘The Celtic game was a disappointment for all of us but we did really well coming back with a win at Motherwell because it isn’t the easiest place to go,’ said Tanser.
‘They are very direct but we coped well with their main threats.
‘It was very physical. Joe and Liam suffered some cuts but we knew we’d have to battle with them. We all dealt well with their physical presence.
‘It was important to bounce back from the Celtic result. Now, if we beat St Mirren, it opens up a big gap on some of the teams below us.
‘We see winnable games ahead. If we can pick up maximum points it stands us in really good stead.
‘Everything that could go wrong did against Celtic but we didn’t help ourselves in the way we played.
‘Obviously, 6-0 isn’t a great result and we couldn’t really take any positives from it.
‘It was a struggle for me up against Forrest but the only thing you can do is learn from the experience.
‘They have good players who have Champions League experience. They’ll be the best we come up against and we’ll have a chance to put it right when we play them again.
‘I’ll take a lot from the experience and so will the team collectively.’