Wright will take them if his team can’t score penalties

ST JOHNSTONE: Manager admits he’s not keen to ruin his nice shoes, though

St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright is tearing his hair out trying to find a solution to his team’s penalty problems – and even joked that the only answer might be to start taking them himself.

The spot-kick woes continued at the weekend up in Dingwall where Stevie May had his saved just seven days after Scott Tanser experienced the same sinking feeling against Motherwell.

Those misses extended a lamentable recent record, with Wright at a loss to explain why his side are continuing to pay the penalty.

The McDiarmid manager said: “We practice them all the time – they have competitions among themselves.

“They have done them with keepers in, keepers out.

“I won’t have a problem getting someone to take the next one. I’m sure I will have four or five put their hands up straight away.

“It’s freakish – we have missed two this season and six out of the last nine given in the league.

“If we had scored the two this season what a difference that would have made.”

Wright added: “It’s not a good record to have but we just have to work through it.

“I always prefer penalty kicks to be taken with a bit of pace so that’s something we will have to look at.

“The last two haven’t been firm enough because if you give it that pace there is always a chance if the keeper does get something on it, it’ll go in anyway.

“That’s the only criticism I have of them, but I’m sure I won’t be short of takers.

“If we keep missing them then the only thing I can do is take them myself but that would mess up my nice brown shoes.”

Picture: SNS. St Johnstone’s Scott Tanser sees his penalty saved by Motherwell’s Mark Gillespie at McDiarmid Park last month.

Tommy Wright: Boss says team’s penalty record is “freakish”.