Wright happy to put himself on the spot for his new club

St Johnstone winger Drey Wright has no track record of taking spot-kicks and while it didn’t have the nerve-jangling drama of World Cup shoot-outs, he endeared himself to home fans by calmly dispatching the fifth for the bonus point.

“When the penalties came up I wanted to take one,” he said.

“I am always confident. I didn’t take them at Colchester but have always been keen to do it when I can.

“It was good to get a bonus point which will help us in the group and we can look forward to the next game now.

“Obviously we wanted to get off to a winning start and we should have been able to do that. It was down to our own sloppiness that we didn’t manage it. But it was tough, it was a hot day again and East Fife sat off us so it was difficult to break them down.

“We needed to be more patient in those attacking areas, that was our problem. It will get better though, we have only had three pre-season games and the sharpness will come.”

While former Dundalk attacker David McMillan came close early on, Darren Young’s Methil part-timers threatened with headers from Scott McBride teed-up by Craig Thomson crosses, with the first brilliantly turned away by keeper Zander Clark.

East Fife boss Young was proud of players who stuck doggedly to their gameplan.

“Overall it was an outstanding performance. We kept our shape well and limited then to very few chances,” he said.

Saints manager Tommy Wright harboured mixed feelings about the tie.

“We should have won the game with the amount of possession we had and the positions we got ourselves into,” he said. “But the final ball and the finishing wasn’t good enough and we wasted too many opportunities.

“I thought we played the way we are looking to play against a team who we knew would pack it and make it difficult for us.”

East Fife boss Darren Young praised his players for gameplan.