Staying up still priority, says captain

“He also makes it difficult for defenders to go and mark him,” added Anderson.

“He had multiple shots against Dundee and scored the penalty for us.

“I think Gordon Strachan will maybe be looking at him because he is quality and has been great for us. “Danny is that good. “He has been in the Scotland squad before and I don’t see why he can’t be again.”

Anderson, who was making his 200th top-flight appearance for St Johnstone, opened the scoring against Dundee.

He then went from saint to sinner by giving away a penalty that was scored by Rory Loy to make it 2-1 in the closing stages.

He thought the scoreline was fair and is now looking ahead to tomorrow’s trip to Ibrox to face Rangers.

Anderson said: “I thought we were the better side against Dundee.

“We were hanging on at the end, to be fair, after I gave away the penalty. But we were the better team overall.

“I think it was only a matter of time before we got the goal.

“I couldn’t miss! It was only five yards out but getting the result was the main thing.”

Anderson claimed that staying in the league is still the priority for Saints despite being in fourth spot, behind Hearts on goal difference.

“We are still in the first third of the season so we just need to keep getting results and get a bit of consistency,” he said.

“If that keeps us in the top six then great.

“To be honest, our target every year is to stay up. That is still the case.

“Once we have secured our position in the league then we start looking up the way.

“I think the fans expect more, to be honest, because we have done so well these last few years.

“We don’t have the biggest of budgets but every season we try to top what we have done before. But it’s about staying up and then taking it from there.”

Danny Swanson: difficult for defenders to mark.