BUDS LIGHT
Failing to make dominance pay frustrates Goody
St Mirren were left kicking themselves as they failed to turn the screw on a sloppy St Johnstone side and get themselves into the top six.
Jim Goodwin’s men ought to have taken all three points from a game they dominated for large chunks, especially in the second period.
They had to settle for a point against as their woeful run at McDiarmid Park continues – the Buddies have not won in Perth for seven years.
They would scarcely have had a better opportunity than here.
The Perth side played out the last four minutes of regulation time with 10 men after Chris Kane was sent off for a second bookable offence. But despite the Buddies’ dominance in possession and in the middle of the park there were just two saves for Zander Clark to make.
Much of their impressive play came through Jamie McGrath, back from injury, but there was a familiar failing in team-mates’ inability to make the most of his passing.
Twice McGrath played in Curtis Main, resulting in a header and effort going wide. And there were suspicions of a red when Liam Gordon got away with a booking after taking out Main as he looked to get on the end of a clever Connor Ronan pass.
Buddies boss Goodwin said: “At the time watching it live I thought it was red card. It was a good attack and Connor did brilliantly with a perfectlyweighted pass in behind and it was good movement from Curtis.
“I thought he was favourite to get it but in the referee’s defence I haven’t actually seen it back. I haven’t seen how close the recovering defender is. But it was a good scoring opportunity and a chance for Curtis to get it on target.
“Fair play to the referee if he has got it right but I’ll have to reserve judgment until I watch it back.”
Goodwin’s bigger frustration was having to settle for a point which ought to have been three. He added: “Even the most diehard St Johnstone fan would agree that we were the better team.
“Callum Davidson was kind enough to say so after the game and he probably feels lucky that they came away with a point.
“I’m disappointed we haven’t found a way to get our noses in front. If we’d got the first one we’d have gone on to get more. The frustrating thing is it has happened too many times already this season where we’re talking about us being the better team but we’re not picking up maximum points.
“I think back to the 2-2 draw with Motherwell but we battered them then last week against Dundee we should have had all three points.
“These draws are killing us. That’s our second 0- 0 with St Johnstone and we should probably have won both of them – those four points make a massive difference in the table.
“It’s something we have to put right and we need to do it quickly.
“But we defended very well and the players were well- organised. They caused us few problems. We were in control and we carried a threat.
“But we need to find a bit of quality to put the ball in the back of the net.”