‘Back to basics’ call for Saints

St Johnstone players must rediscover work ethic, says Wotherspoon

David Wotherspoon insists that the St Johnstone players have to rediscover the work ethic that has served them so well in recent seasons after the desperately-disappointing defeat against Aberdeen.

Saints had the chance to go level on points with the Dons on Saturday, but instead they produced one of their worst performances in years, with the home side winning thanks to an Adam Rooney hat-trick.

St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright savaged his players for their inept display, and Wotherspoon admits it is time for the team to get back to the core values that have been the foundation of their success.

The 27-year-old said: “The manager just told us to have a right good look at ourselves.

“That wasn’t us today. We haven’t performed the last couple of games to the highest level we can.

“We just need to get back to basics. “We need to get back to working for each other. That’s our game and it hasn’t quite been there.

“He (Wright) was spot on. The last few games we haven’t looked like ourselves.

“We managed to get the win against Hamilton after a reaction in the second half, but the first half was not like us.

“The boys all know as well that we can’t play like that or we will get beaten every week so we will just have to up our game and that’s what we will try to do.”

Saints got off to the worst possible start at Pittodrie when they conceded in just the seventh minute.

Kenny Mclean took a quick free-kick, passing the ball short to former St Johnstone favourite Stevie May, who swung in an inch-perfect cross from the left towards Rooney.

The big striker made no mistake, stooping low to head past the exposed Alan Mannus in the Saints goal.

The keeper then had to look lively soon after, diving to his right to push away a fizzing Graeme Shinnie shot.

However, Mannus was beaten for the second time in the 18th minute. A corner was played short to May on the right and he sent a cross into the Saints box which was headed on by Anthony O’connor, with that man Rooney nodding home from close range at the back post.

After those two early hammer blows, Wright’s men struggled to gain a foothold in the game, with Dons keeper Joe Lewis a virtual spectator.

St Johnstone had a big let-off in the 43rd minute when Ryan Christie had a clear sight of goal but did not make good contact with his shot and Mannus was able to save.

There was a huge shout from the home fans for a penalty in the 51st minute when May tumbled in the St Johnstone box, but referee John Beaton was not convinced.

As the hour mark came and went, Saints continued to struggle to find a spark, with Aberdeen sitting on their comfortable lead.

That lead increased again in the 80th minute with Rooney completing his hattrick. Christie went down in the Saints box after a reckless challenge from sub Denny Johnstone.

This time Mr Beaton had no hesitation in pointing to the spot.

Rooney stepped up and calmly sent Mannus the wrong way to make it 3-0.

In the 89th minute, the home side almost made it four when sub Frank Ross hit the post with an 18-yard shot.

Not surprisingly, there was not a St Johnstone player who had anything to say in reply to their outraged manager when he told them exactly what he thought of the performance in the Pittodrie away dressing-room.

Wright said: “None of them spoke, so I take it they agree with me. That isn’t us. It was nowhere near the level you need to be at when you come here. We went into the game on the back of a good performance at Hamilton last week, high energy then we produced low energy in terms of quality and we undid a lot of the good work we did then.

“They have got their time off. I’m not one for cancelling that, I think that defeats the purpose. It’s like treating them like naughty boys and taking something away from them.

“Plus I need a couple of days off after that performance and I am not cancelling those because they weren’t prepared to work hard enough. It’s not nice but it’s a blip in the big picture. It was a massively poor performance.”

Twitter: C_nrobertson

Picture: SNS. Top: Adam Rooney scores the second goal of his hat-trick. Above: Saints legend Stevie May helped make it a difficult afternoon for his former club.