Wright has to get the balancing act right

St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright admits it is unlikely he will be able to bring in another midfielder – unless players already at the club head out the door.

The McDiarmid Park manager had to press centre-half Jason Kerr into service in the middle of the park on Saturday as Saints kicked off their Premiership campaign against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park.

And Wright admitted that temporary move could become a more permanent one for the 21-year-old with the chances of reinforcements arriving looking slim.

The manager said: “At the minute we won’t be bringing a new midfielder in.

“We have to get players out first for it to happen but we can’t really do that because the squad is thin in numbers.

“So it’s a balancing act. We will have to manage the numbers game properly.

“For someone to come in, we need people to go out.”

Wright added: “We put Jason into midfield and I thought he did as well as anyone.

“He came off because he got tired as it’s a new role for him.

“Jason could play as a holding midfielder in a three, I’m confident of that.

“He actually started his career as a midfielder when he was younger, but he’s more comfortable at centre-back these days.

“If we don’t get a midfielder in then that could be an option.”

St Johnstone suffered a 2-0 defeat against Kilmarnock with Wright admitting the result and performance was simply not good enough.

He added: “I have watched the game back and my feelings are still the same.

“You can lose games, we know that, but it’s how you lose them and certainly the second half on Saturday wasn’t good enough.

“There was a catalogue of mistakes – I counted seven – before their goal, so that has to stop.

“We have to improve. We can’t have people making errors like we did on Saturday.

“The consequences of not improving is you won’t be in the team, simple as that.”