Best display of season so far, claims Wright

Saints boss full of praise after watching his side dominate at Tynecastle

Tommy Wright insists St Johnstone’s display against Hearts was their most complete showing of the season despite slipping to a 1-0 defeat.

Saints dominated for large spells in Edinburgh, with Jambos goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin turning in a man-of-the-match performance to deny Scott Tanser, David Wotherspoon and Blair Alston.

David Milinkovic fired home the winner with just 39 seconds of the second period on the clock – but Wright, who saw Wotherspoon dismissed for two bookable offences, was full of praise for his side.

“We have gone to Tynecastle and dominated the game in terms of chances and should have been out of sight,” said Wright.

“I thought that was probably our best performance of the season.”

HEARTS 1 ST JOHNSTONE 0

Few defeats are met with a standing ovation from the losing supporters, let alone when it is a fifth successive Premiership outing without tasting victory. However, the appreciation from the St Johnstone fans at Tynecastle was plain to see following a mystifying 90 minutes.

‘Our best performance of the season,’ was the assessment of manager Tommy Wright after watching his side pepper the Hearts goal to no avail.

Jon McLaughlin, the Jambos goalkeeper, was magnificent as he denied Scott Tanser, David Wotherspoon and Blair Alston, while Chris Kane rattled the crossbar in the first period with a wonderful instinctive volley. When your luck is out, it’s out.

One lapse of concentration allowed David Milinkovic to find the net for Hearts and secure all three points before Wotherspoon was given his marching orders for two bookable offences in the space of seven minutes, which appeared harsh from referee Andrew Dallas.

Nevertheless, in sharp contrast to his fury seven days earlier following their meek defeat to Partick Thistle, Wright was full of praise for his dominant, yet vanquished, Saints.

“We have gone to Tynecastle and dominated the game in terms of chances and should have been out of sight,” claimed Wright.

“I thought that was probably our best performance of the season. We were superb and there are a lot of positives we can take from that.

“Jason Kerr came in and was excellent, everyone can see what a good player Matty [Willock] will be for us, the front two worked their socks off and [Richard] Foster looked back to his best. All over the park we were excellent.

“I just feel so sorry for them that they couldn’t finish Hearts off and that’s down to their man-of -the-match, Jon McLaughlin. I don’t think there was any doubt we should have got something out of the game.

“But ultimately we lost the game because we lost a sloppy goal after halftime, we should defend that better.”

It took just seven minutes for St Johnstone to test McLaughlin in what would become a running theme in Gorgie, with a fine curling free-kick by Wotherspoon forcing the 30-year-old to parry clear.

The former Burton and Bradford custodian produced an even better stop minutes later when sloppy defending by Connor Randall allowed Tanser the opportunity to surge forward and have a pop at goal, forcing a fingertip save. Kane rippled the side-netting with the rebound.

Matthew Willock, enjoying a superb debut after joining from Manchester United on loan last week, delivered a cross which fell kindly for Kane on the edge of the box, but his sweet volley crashed against the woodwork.

The Hearts goal was leading a charmed life.

The Saints frustration was summed up when a Steven Anderson header appeared to be blocked by the arm of Christophe Berra.

We were superb and there are a lot of positives we can take. I just feel sorry for them that they couldn’t finish Hearts off. TOMMY WRIGHT

Referee Dallas waved away those claims.

“I don’t mind the penalty not being given if the decision was that it wasn’t intentional,” added Wright.

“But Andrew Dallas clearly pointed to his shoulder when everyone could see it was a handball!”

St Johnstone paid for their profligacy just 39 seconds into the second half when a Danny Amankwaa corner fell for Milinkovic, who showed excellent strength to hold off Tanser and lash a clinical shot beyond Alan Mannus.

Saints’ hopes of restoring parity were hit when Wotherspoon was dismissed after being adjudged to have hauled down Amankwaa and Joaquim Adao in the space of seven minutes.

“For the sending off, the second booking is a foul on David,” blasted Wright.

“Christophe Berra got away with fouls all day and doesn’t get talked to, then he sends David off when we were expecting the Hearts player to get the card. But Berra plays for Scotland and David doesn’t.

“I don’t want to make it the ‘Andrew Dallas Show’ because he made enough of that out there. I thought a cracking game was spoiled a bit by us going down to 10 men.

“I’m certainly not going to be phoning John Fleming about him because I’ve lost count of the times I’ve been on to him about Andrew Dallas. Luckily he’s not in charge for either of our next two games.”

Hearts boss Craig Levein conceded that his side lacked fluency and creativity as they rode their luck against the Saints, but was proud of yet another clean sheet – their ninth shutout in the last 11 fixtures.

“I thought we started poorly and didn’t really perform at any decent level at all in the first half,” acknowledged Levein.

“I thought St Johnstone were better than us. It was frustrating.

“We didn’t really get going passing wise. A lot of players were slipping and it was a game not to make errors rather than play great football.

“But I don’t think I will ever get bored of keeping a clean sheet. I am still a lover of seeing defending done properly.”