Watt determined to own goal

Tony Watt insists he won’t be “deflected” from his belief that he deserves all the credit for the goal which secured St Johnstone a point against Hibs on Sunday, writes Neil Robertson.

The striker hit the back of the net in the first half of the match with Neil Lennon’s side thanks to a fierce drive from a narrow angle.

The ball flew past Hibs keeper Ross Laidlaw with the help of a large deflection off defender Ryan Porteous’ foot.

However, Watt is adamant the goal belongs to him and he even has the backing of match referee Willie Collum.

The 24-year-old former Celtic and Hearts front man said: “It wasn’t an own goal! I just tried to hit it towards the back post and I thought it was on target.

“It was my goal.

“Willie Collum came up to me after the game and said: ‘It is your goal’.

“He’s put it down so that’s the main one, isn’t it? Nobody is taking it off me.

“I need to score as many goals as possible this year and if I didn’t hit the shot it wasn’t going in.

“It hasn’t changed direction much. It has just gone up the way not moved in the opposite direction or anything.”

“The Hibs fans were giving me some stick just before so it was just a bit of banter when I scored,” added Watt.

“But the game was good and I enjoyed it.

“It is a good point to get on the board. I felt in parts we deserved it.

“They got their goal probably against the run of play. We had come out in the second half playing well and it was just an unlucky goal to concede.

“It was nobody’s fault but we could probably have nicked it with Blair Alston’s shot.

“I thought we did well overall.”

Sunday’s performance was a big step up for Saints from the display in defeat the previous Saturday at Kilmarnock with Watt and his teammates producing the response demanded by boss Tommy Wright.

The front man added: “Last week at Killie was a non-starter and it all went against us.

“But this week we showed what the gaffer was trying to build during pre-season.

“The manager has been good. St Johnstone have been known for being big and physical but I feel we can play and mix it up as well if we need to.

“The gaffer has been trying to implement football into us and we definitely have lads who can play.

“We have attacking full-backs, good people in the middle and wingers as well.”

Not for the first time, Watt, who has also played for Charlton, Cardiff and Blackburn down south, came back to haunt his former Celtic boss Lennon.

However, the striker insisted what mattered more was the fact that Saints had matched a good Hibs side.

He said: “It is good because he is my ex-manager but that doesn’t matter as I have a job to do for St Johnstone.

“Hibs are tipped to be one of the better teams this season so if we can go toe to toe with them, and if we can scrape together enough points, then come the end of the season we can be challenging up there as well.”