The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Returning hero a key signing, says Wright
O’Halloran back at McDiarmid Park on loan from Rangers
east fife 0 st johnstone 2
Michael O’Halloran is a player Tommy Wright knows well – and pulled out all the stops to get him in a Saints jersey again.
Wright has been chasing the forward, who left Perth for Glasgow Rangers in 2016, for months and on Saturday morning finally got his man.
O’Halloran agreed a loan deal with St Johnstone just hours before their pre-season friendly with East Fife at Bayview.
With the league season starting on Saturday, Wright wasted no time in giving O’Halloran a chance to get minutes under his belt, the forward playing the entire second half in Saints’ 2-0 win.
Wright said: “I sat down with the chairman and said that Michael and Stefan Scougall were our number one targets and were the people we wanted to get in.
“We persevered but didn’t think it was going to happen.
“We then had an opportunity this week to get it done and credit to our chairman he managed to get him in.”
Saturday’s game was both clubs’ last before their respective league campaigns begin.
Saints travel to meet Kilmarnock, while East Fife journey to Stranraer.
It was a 90 minutes Saints used to give their full squad a run out, swapping virtually their entire starting line-up at the break.
For East Fife, Darren Young used the game as an opportunity to cast his eye over a couple of potential new recruits – St Johnstone pair Greg Hurst and Liam Gordon lining up against their own club with loan moves to Bayview a possibility.
Former Clyde left-back Scott Linton played as did ex-Falkirk defender Kieran Duffie.
St Johnstone opened the scoring when Graham Cummins picked out Scougall six yards from goal and the summer recruit beat Ryan Goodfellow.
Paul Willis should have levelled matters before the break but he somehow scooped his shot over from six yards.
Saints eased to the win early in the second half when David Wotherspoon finished off a Craig Thomson cut-back.
Wright reckons the game at Bayview, played on East Fife’s new artificial surface, is the perfect preparation for the trip to Killie.
He said: “It was a good workout for us, particularly since we have Kilmarnock on an artificial surface.
“The surface East Fife have is way better than some of the ones in the SPL.
“Being new, it was great and allowed us to pass the ball really well.
“We were maybe just guilty of over complicating things at times.”
Bayview boss Young was also content with his side, and expects to add at least one of the weekend’s trialists to his squad within the next couple of days.
He said: “St Johnstone are a good side who are regularly up in the top five.
“It was good for us to get the experience of playing against these kind of players.”