Wright’s happy hunting ground
ST JOHNSTONE seem to love getting out of Perth and of all their favourite away-day destinations, few seem to whet the appetite more than Dingwall. This was a fifth win in six visits for the team bettered only by Celtic in terms of performance on the road.
Manager Tommy Wright was hoping the good cheer would improve chairman Steve Brown’s mood after Danny Swanson had detailed in the morning papers his disgruntlement over a lack of
progress in contract renewal talks. The attacker was conspicuous by his absence for yesterday’s match.
Wright, jubilant after Chris Kane’s spectacular late winner, joked Brown might be ready to talk terms after the Perth side took a huge step towards top-six safety.
“Danny was right to have his say,” the St Johnstone manager said. “I don’t take his comments as a negative as they show how much he wants to stay here. I might give the chairman a quick ring now as he’ll be in a good mood and we’ll see if we can get it done.”
Wright added: “We played extremely well. The goal we lost was unlucky from our point of view but we kept going and I’m so pleased for Chris Kane – it was a great goal; fit to win any game.
“There’s a long way to go but our away form has been magnificent this season. We’re a point behind Hearts now but at the moment our focus is on getting the three points to take us closer to [finishing in] the top six.”
The team from Perth were first to threaten. David Wotherspoon’s driven cross from the left was flicked on by the heel of Blair Alston but an alert Scott Fox touched it on to the outside of the post.
They lost Murray Davidson to injury after 13 minutes, with Keith Watson coming on.
County’s first real chance came after 27 minutes after Craig Curran won the ball back twice and found Liam Boyce, who teed up Michael Gardyne but the shot was wild and over the bar.
Three minutes later, a Martin Woods free-kick appeared to catch the raised hand of Joe Shaughnessy in the St Johnstone penalty area but the referee John Beaton wasn’t interested. County were behind a minute later. Wotherspoon headed the ball wide to Alston and he cut the ball low across the box for Steven MacLean to send a deflected shot past the helpless Fox.
Gardyne struck the upright as he controlled a high Kenny van der Weg ball into the box.
Just after the hour, Saints were screaming for a penalty when Woods appeared to handle a Shaughnessy header on the line.
County’s perseverance paid off on 73 minutes when a Woods pass through the middle split the Saints defence and Curran raced in, took a touch and slipped a 10-yard shot past Clark for the leveller.
But Saints weren’t to be outdone. Entering stoppage time, Wotherspoon’s ball across found substitute Kane and he took a touch before lashing a 22-yard screamer into the top corner.