The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Teams running scared of Saints: Alston
Midfielder claims lack of home victories is evidence of Perth club’s ‘fear factor’ status
ROSS COUNTY 1 ST JOHNSTONE 2
Blair Alston believes St Johnstone’s troubles on the home front are a measure of the fear factor they now carry as a force in Scotland’s Premiership.
The Perth midfielder, outstanding in Saturday’s triumph in Dingwall, knows Saints have produced much of their best form on the road this season.
Chris Kane’s winner in Dingwall secured a sixth away victory in the league, allied to four draws and only three defeats in the 13 away matches played.
Contrasted to that, home outings have brought only four victories from 12 matches at McDiarmid Park, with three draws and five defeats.
Alston feels opponents are blatantly “parking the bus” when they visit Perth, while viewing a result against the Saints almost as a big scalp in the campaign.
It is only at venues like the Global Energy Stadium, where St Johnstone have now triumphed on five of their last six visits, that the team’s true potential shines through.
The Dingwall win hoisted Saints to just one point behind faltering fourth-placed Hearts and tantalisingly close to securing a sixth successive top six spot.
The 24 year-old, who set up Steven MacLean’s opener and struck the post in Saturday’s victory, insists clubs are running scared of St Johnstone.
He said: “We’re a team, especially this season, who seem to perform better away from home.
“There tends to be more pressure on home teams to come out and play and that enables us to play our own game, counter-attack the way we like to do – and Ross County was a good example of that.
“We limited them to only a few chances and created a few ourselves, so overall it was a good performance.
“At home, the onus is really on us to go and break teams down and they see us, maybe not as a huge scalp, but as a very tough opponent. They come and sit in – lots of teams park the bus – and try to counter us.
“In a way, it’s what we try to do at places like this. We look to make ourselves difficult to break down and then we come out and try to create spaces in behind them.
“I think Saturday’s performance shows it is a strength of ours after a disappointing result last week at home to Partick Thistle. It definitely is a mark of respect to St Johnstone that teams come to us with that attitude.
“That just shows how well the club have done over the past few years. We’re still looking to make sure we make the top six and we’ll just take each game as it comes. We’ve put ourselves in a good position but the job isn’t done yet.”
Saints now have the chance to secure another lofty finish in the league.
Alston, though, insists they won’t look upwards in the league until they are assured of top six football.
He added: “It is a cliché, but our only target is the next game. If we keep doing what we do at places like this and can turn our home form around, there’s no reason why we can’t pressure Hearts all the way.
“But first and foremost it is about guaranteeing the top six.
“Even when we get there, we’ll still try and put everything into the remaining matches, but first we need to secure that cushion where we can look to catch teams ahead of us. We’re in a great position but there’s a few more games before we can confirm it.”
County can relate to Saints’ struggles at home. Jim McIntyre’s side have managed just three wins in Dingwall in the league this season while almost half their points tally has come on the road.
With Saints effective in nullifying County attacks and stifling their gameplan, it quickly became scrappy with both sides guilty of lacklustre play for lengthy spells.
But the Perth team were first to threaten with David Wotherspoon’s driven cross from the left into the box flicked on by the heel of Alston.
The Saints man’s attempt was touched on to the outside of the post by the alert Scott Fox.
After an awkward tumble, Murray Davidson exited injured to be replaced by Keith Watson, after only 13 minutes.
County’s first real chance materialised after 27 minutes when Craig Curran showed great perseverance to win the ball back twice.
The Liverpudlian found Liam Boyce who teed up Michael Gardyne for a wild strike over the bar.
Three minutes later, Martin Woods’ chipped free-kick appeared to catch the raised hand of Joe Shaughnessy in the St Johnstone penalty area but referee John Beaton wasn’t interested.
County were behind a minute later. Wotherspoon rose to head the ball wide right to Alston inside the right of the County box and he cut the ball across low to where Steven MacLean was waiting to send a deflected shot past the helpless County keeper.
County’s Gardyne struck the upright as he controlled a high Kenny van der Weg ball into the box.
Just after the hour, Saints were screaming for a penalty as County blocked a Shaughnessy header on the line with Martin Woods seeming to handle.
County’s perseverance paid off finally after 73 minutes.
Woods’ low pass through the middle split Saints’ defence and Curran raced in, took a touch and slipped a 10-yard shot past Zander Clark for the leveller.
But Saints weren’t to be outdone. Entering stoppage time Wotherspoon’s ball across found substitute Kane and he took a touch before lashing a 22-yard screamer into the top left corner.