Wright hoping history repeats itself for Saints

ST JOHNSTONE: International break seemed to do wonders for Perth club last season

St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright is hoping history will repeat itself once his team emerge from the international break.

Saints are still looking for their first win of the season following Saturday’s 2-2 draw against Ross County in Dingwall.

There has been plenty of doom and gloom surrounding the McDiarmid men following their poor start to the campaign but a quick check of the record books shows St Johnstone are only four points worse off than they were at this time last year.

And Wright is now hoping his team can replicate what they achieved last season after the international break – when they embarked on a run of five wins on the bounce.

The manager said: “Last season we came back from the October international break and went on a really good run.

“I will be pointing that out to the players during this break.

“They know they’re not far away. “The signs are there that we’re turning the corner.

“In a lot of ways the start to the season has been similar to last year.

“We are four points behind where we were last season, so that’s the main thing we have to improve on.

“But in terms of goals scored, we are the same and although everyone is saying our defence is really poor this season, we’ve only conceded two more.

“The amount of defeats is the same, but we have drawn more.

“That has been the difference. We haven’t been able to turn one of those 1-1 or 2-2 games into a win.

“It’s fine margins and missing penalties hasn’t helped.”

Wright added: “We have to help ourselves more, but anyone who saw the last two games knows we should have had more from them.

“But it remains that we haven’t won a game and that has been down to us – we have given away poor goals and left ourselves an uphill battle.”

St Johnstone dominated the match in Dingwall with no less than 10 shots on target but still only came away with a point following Blair Spittal’s stunning free-kick equaliser.

However, Wright remains convinced that there are definite signs of progress and that elusive first win will arrive sooner rather than later.

He added: “Things are coming together. Anyone who was at Dingwall saw that.

“Once we get that first win, I think we’ll be able to build on it.

“Until we get that win everyone will focus on that, we know that and the only way to stop it is by winning games.

“But the players still have confidence in themselves, I don’t think you could go to Ross County, dominate possession the way we did and have so many shots if we didn’t have that confidence.

“We have to improve at both ends of the pitch, but you are seeing signs of it coming together.”

One of the plus points against the Staggies was the display of Wallace Duffy.

The former Celtic player has mostly played as a right-back since signing for Saints in the summer but was pressed into service as a centre-half following the knee injury to Liam Gordon.

Wright added: “Wallace did very well up at Dingwall and long-term he will be a centre-half.

“I brought him here as a centre-half who can play right-back.

“When Liam Gordon picked up his injury I had a decision to make and I just felt that Wallace did better than Madis Vihmann in training.

“Madis has taken a bit longer to settle in Scottish football, so Wallace got the nod and he can be very pleased with the way he played.”

In a lot of ways the start to the season has been similar to last year. TOMMY WRIGHT

Picture: SNS.