Defender wants Saints to get back to basics

Shaughnessy says McDiarmid men are giving away goals

Joe Shaughnessy is cross with the way St Johnstone have been leaking goals, and the defender says it’s time to go back to basics.

Tommy Wright’s men lost 3-0 to Rangers hard on the heels of a similar setback at Aberdeen.

The Irishman insists Saints must plug the leaks for the trip to face Hearts at Murrayfield on Saturday.

“In the last couple of games we have given away goals from crosses,” said Shaughnessy.

“We need to work on stopping them coming in and, if they do, defend them better.

“This is usually what we are good at, and it’s not often we have lost three goals in two games.

“We need to get back to basics. It’s just a case of getting back to doing our jobs.

“I’m sure we’ll work on it in training and we’re usually pretty good at finding problems and dealing with them.”

Rangers star Carlos Pena cashed in with a double at McDiarmid on Friday, and Shaughnessy said the loss of skipper and regular defensive partner Steven Anderson to a red card was costly.

It was a defeat which saw Saints slip to fifth in the table.

“I didn’t think it was a 3-0 and I thought we were in the game until the red card,” Shaughnessy said.

“They weren’t causing us too much trouble.

“The first goal was a very good cross into the box, and finish, but other than that they didn’t really break us down.

“There weren’t too many good chances created, although Alan Mannus made one good save.

“You can’t read too much into what has happened in the game after the sending off.

“We had to try and chase it a little bit and they picked us off.

“For the second goal we get overloaded, and overall it is a tough one to take.

“We were down to 10 men and were trying to deal with that, so it is hard,” he said.

“If we had stayed with 11 men and still got beat 3-0 then there would maybe be a bit more cause for worry.

“You would think Aberdeen and Rangers are two of the teams who will be right up there towards the end of the season.

“We just need to push on, deal with it and get back to grinding out results,” he said.

We just need to push on, deal with it and get back to grinding out results. JOE SHAUGHNESSY

Picture: PA. Joe Shaughnessy said the Saints must tighten their defence for the match against Hearts.