The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Saints up to eighth with second win
St Johnstone are up to eighth in the Premiership table on the back of their second win in a row.
The 1-0 victory over Hearts at Mcdiarmid Park took them above four teams in one night, their woeful Edinburgh opponents among them.
A Christophe Berra second half own goal secured the three points for Saints and made it two wins in five days for the rejuvenated Perth men.
It was the first time they had taken the lead in the league this season and their first clean sheet.
Tommy Wright was understandably a very contented Saints manager.
He said: “We had talked before the game with the boys about possibly getting up to eighth.
“It’s a great win, and that’s two on the bounce now but we will keep our feet on the ground.”
“We’ve now got a free weekend coming up and then we will prepare for facing Hibs the week after,” added the manager.
Wright singled out “magnificent” young centre-backs Jason Kerr and Wallace Duffy for special praise.
“I thought maybe we would not be able to cope with big Uche up front for Hearts but our two centre-halves did well and that gave us a platform to build,” he said.
“I felt it was a well-deserved win. I don’t think Zander had a save to make all night.
“The clean sheet was very important especially since we have not been keeping clean sheets.
“But we have a young defence and they will make mistakes. I felt we defended well as a team tonight but our two centre-backs did really well to nullify Hearts.
“Overall we had a lot of good performances tonight. Ali Mccann is forming a good partnership with Murray (Davidson).
“Murray has been back to his best in the last couple of games. Long may that continue.”
At full-time Hearts fans were shouting for Craig Levein to be sacked.
He said: “The game was nothing really. I felt it was going nowhere. We’re going through a period where we’re struggling for confidence.
“It took us until the last five minutes until we showed any intent to throw bodies forward. That was the frustration for me.
“I understand the supporters’ frustrations. I have no qualms at all about them voicing them.”