Wright rues lack of quality after defeat

There were no points for St Johnstone but Tommy Wright had a lot to be satisfied with after last night’s defeat at the hands of Rangers.

“I was pleased with how we played, not pleased with the result,” he said.

“For 70 minutes we were slightly the better side. They put one cross in the box in the first half and we should probably deal with it better.

“Our final ball wasn’t good enough, finish wasn’t good enough. But, up until the sending off, we were dominant. I’m disappointed we didn’t make the most of the good play we had up to the final third.”

Steven Anderson was ordered off with around 20 minutes left and Rangers’ second and third goals followed.

“It totally changes the game,” said Wright.

“I’ve seen the first yellow card. If there is a level of consistency, there should be a dozen yellow cards at corner kicks. The referee decides on a yellow when he could just give a warning.

“All night, we didn’t get those decisions. Second yellow, Ando should know better. There was minimum contact but Morelos goes down. Then, with the quality Rangers have, they could make the extra man count.”

The corner count told a story as far as Wright was concerned.

“Stats don’t win games but we had 16 corners,” he said. “If Rangers had 16 corners, they would have scored more. We just didn’t have that bit of quality.”

Wright and Pedro Caixinha shook hands on the final whistle after a bizarre pre-match build-up.

“He was out late so I didn’t get to shake hands before the game,” said the Perth boss.

“I shook hands after the game. I don’t know if he’s coming in for a beer. If he doesn’t, it’s more chicken for me to eat.”

There was high praise from Caixinha for his team, who said he “saluted” Wright after the match

He said: “I think it was the best collective performance since we arrived. Very compact, very addicted to the game plan. The cherry on the top of the cake is a clean sheet.”