Perth men pay price of success
St Johnstone seek a return to form
THE REMARKABLE achievements of St Johnstone in the past decade have been rightly lauded, with the Perth club punching well above its weight.
An historic Scottish Cup success and consecutive European qualifications have made them the envy of other sides with considerably higher budgets and bigger supports.
Sustaining that has been difficult, though. Last season was particularly tough as manager Tommy Wright endured eight losses in a nine-game winless run.
The Northern Irishman managed to rectify that malaise but nine games into this term, he has still to record a victory. Worse than that, his team has lost its steel.
Wright looked like a man at the end of his tether and goalkeeper Zander Clark can understand as the Perth men capitulated so easily to the Paisley Saints, who won thanks to Jon Obika’s spectacular overhead kick and a cool Danny Mullen finish.
‘It wasn’t good enough,’ said Clark. ‘Once they scored, we went into our shell and we need to be better.
‘It seems to be the same old story. We play some nice football; we create chances and we could have been one or two up before they had any action in our box.
‘Then we gave away a free-kick — it was a straightforward ball into the box, we didn’t deal with it and we found ourselves 1-0 down.
‘It’s the reaction after that we need to be better with.
‘We went through a horrendous spell last season and came out the other side of it.
‘It’s a much younger squad, so it’s a big learning curve for them.
‘In years gone by, we have been harder to break down and we need to get back to that, myself included.
‘We feel we have a good squad. With the quality of player we’ve got we shouldn’t be at the bottom.
‘The table doesn’t look good but we have deserved more from many of the games we have played because of our performances.
‘However we’ve been getting draws in games we would have won in years gone by.
‘We need to be more solid. We know we have the quality in the changing room. We see it every day in training.’
Wright’s men now face Hamilton and then Hearts in Perth before the completion of the first phase of league matches, with Clark adding: ‘We’ve got two home games now and we know it’s important to get that first win and pick up points.
‘We all need to work hard — it’s not just the back five. We need to tighten up all over the pitch.’
Conversely, St Mirren resolved their goal-scoring difficulties to win only their second game of the season.
They had found the net just three times before Saturday and 325 minutes had elapsed since their last strike when Obika ended the run with an overhead kick. ‘I would probably have taken six goals instead of a spectacular one by now but that’s how it goes,’ he said after opening his account with Saints. ‘I am just happy to get off the mark and now I am up and running and we got three points so that’s the main thing. ‘Hopefully the goals will flow now. The next goal is also important as we need to get points on the board. ‘The boys have showed me the pictures already, so it is great. It looks good in the photo. ‘It was well executed and you have to go for it or you don’t.
‘I scored one like it for Yeovil but it bounced before going into the top corner.
‘It didn’t look as good as that one.’
The stunning strike provoked the Paisley fans to burst into their version of The Champs’ classic
Tequila — using, of course, ‘Obika’ instead.
‘I love it and I have to give the St Mirren fans credit as it is amazing,’ he continued.
‘I have to stop myself from joining in on the park when the supporters are singing it.
‘It does give me energy on the field when I hear it. It is one of the better football songs around and I really like it.’
Obika’s goal came eight minutes before half-time when he lashed the ball home after centre-half Sean McLoughlin had headed the ball across goal.
And it was Mullen who scored the second goal in a wonderfully slick move on 61 minutes when he clinically swept home Paul McGinn’s cross.