Wright bringing best out of Watt as striker finds his feet with Saints

Dykes 45, Dobbie 116pen in Tony Watt is a match made in heaven for both parties. Wright praised his striker after his two goals helped put St Johnstone into the last eight of the Betfred Cup by beating Queen of the South 4-2 after extra time at Palmerston.

Wright said: “I brought Tony in to score goals. He’s happy, working hard and he will get better in terms of match fitness. That’s not a criticism of him, it’s a fact he’s not played a lot of competitive football over the last 14 months. He’s here to score goals and if he’d taken the career path that people think he should’ve taken he’d have been nowhere near St Johnstone.

“I think we’re fortunate to have him, but I think he’s also fortunate to have us and at the minute it’s working really well.”

With his career having failed to ignite since leaving Celtic, Watt, pictured, has started well for the Mcdiarmid Park outfit.

He put St Johnstone in front after 26 minutes, turning in Murray Davidson’s initial shot from close range. But Queens fought back to level terms on the stroke of half-time when Lyndon Dykes scored a brilliant half volley. Both sides came close to taking the lead in the second half when Saints’ Drey Wright and Queens’ Andy Stirling hit the woodwork. In extra time, Watt played Wright in to put Saints ahead before Watt seemingly sealed the tie just before the end of the first half.

However, Stephen Dobbie scored from the penalty spot with five minutes to go to put pressure on the Premiership side, but Callum Hendry scored an easy goal right at the end of additional time.

Up next for St Johnstone is struggling Dundee while Queens now turn their focus to Falkirk next week.

Queens boss Gary Naysmith said: “I thought we responded well to going a goal behind and we deservedly got level. The players were great and need to take that level of performance into our next game.”

Aberdeen boss Derek Mcinnes has tipped Gary Mackay-steven to be in the reckoning for the next Scotland squad after the former Celtic winger’s strong start to the season.

Mackay-steven took his goal tally to four for the campaign with a double in the Betfred Cup rout of St Mirren, and his strong performance left Buddies leftback Hayden Coulson tied in knots.

Asked about the player’s chances of being in the squad to face Belgium and Albania next month, Mcinnes replied: “Why not? You want your wide players to score goals, and he’s doing that at the moment. Two goals and an assist today. I’m sure Alex [Mcleish] is aware of who is doing well, but he could certainly be at home in that environment.

“He’s a very good finisher. It’s something we identified when he came in, he’s a calm finisher when he gets into good positions.

“We all know that when he’s enjoying his football and doing flicks and tricks his confidence is sky high.”

While Mackay-steven impressed, Coulson will be having nightmares but his manager, Alan Stubbs, believes the defender will learn from the experience.

He said: “Hayden had a tough time. He’ll learn from it. Sometimes you have to experience afternoons like that to become a better player.

“He’s come up against a good player. He let him build up momentum, and that’s not something you can do against Gary.”

Stubbs is looking for a reaction from his side in next week’s league match against Livingston, adding: “It can take a little bit to get a foothold in the league.

“We started off well in taking three points from our first game, but it’s been a tough week in terms of the opposition we’ve faced at Ibrox and Pittodrie.”