The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Craig impressed by glimpse of future
Midfielder praises contributions of young defenders thrown in at the deep end against Dons and Accies
The last week has proved that St Johnstone have a bright future as well as a bright present, according to midfielder Liam Craig.
The Perth side were unlucky to be knocked out of the Betfred Cup by Aberdeen on Thursday night, and then dug deep to salvage a late draw against Hamilton Accies three days later.
Encouragingly, two of the star performers in the matches have been McDiarmid Park youngsters.
Liam Gordon barely put a foot wrong at Pittodrie after starting at centre-back, while Aaron Comrie dealt with being thrown in at the deep end at Hamilton to replace Richard Foster at right-back after just four minutes.
Craig, who scored Saints’ equaliser on Sunday, was full of praise for both men.
“They have been excellent,” said the former Falkirk and Hibs man.
“Aaron came on after a few minutes on Sunday and did very well and Gordy was probably unlucky not to play again after playing last Thursday.
“There is a good group in the under20s and Zander (Clark) and Chris Kane are proof of that.
“There are some good youngsters. I have started to work with the 16s so it’s good getting to know them.
“It’s helping me on the coaching side and understanding what it’s like for a manager. And maybe I don’t moan as much as I used to!
“It’s great for the club to see young players develop and for the fans to see them hopefully go all the way into the first team.”
Saints are renowned for their persistence at times when other sides would maybe start to accept that it isn’t going to be their day. Sunday was another such occasion.
“It was the sort of point we have dug out before,” Craig said. “And if we had lost the game we would have been bitterly disappointed.
“I think they were struggling to clear it at times in the second half and we put a lot of balls into the box. But our finishing was not too good, especially from outside the box as far as me and Murray (Davidson) were concerned.
“At 1-0 Zander made a great save, but with the amount of corners we had and crosses we put in that didn’t fall for us we deserved to come back.
““It’s great for the club to see young players develop. LIAM CRAIG
“We had a lot of corners – probably only four good ones though!
“So we’re pleased that we put them under pressure and it’s as many chances as we have created in a while.
“We kept digging away like this team does.
“To take a point at Hamilton when you add that to the three at Partick Thistle and three against Hearts last week, it’s not a bad seven points.”
Craig believes Saints proved there was no Betfred Cup hangover.
“It wasn’t a case of getting up for it at Hamilton after the League Cup defeat because we knew how well we had started in the league,” he said.
“We wanted to get back to winning ways.
“It just shows you how strong the squad is.
“The manager changed it last Thursday and we lost a late goal and then he changed it again on Sunday and we got a positive result.
“That’s one thing about this group of boys. We don’t get too carried away when we lose.
“Even although it was bitterly dis-appointing last Thursday, we always bounce back.
“It was good that we got back in the game on Sunday but equally important that we didn’t then lose it like we did at Inverness recently.”