Saints bring in Mccart early to bolster Perth squad

St Johnstone last night made their first signing of the January transfer window by securing the early arrival of defender Jamie Mccart from Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

The 22-year-old had already agreed a pre-contract with Saints and was due to move to Mcdiarmid Park in the summer.

But the Perth club have now completed the signing for an undisclosed fee, with the centre-half putting pen to paper on a two-and-a-half-year-deal until the summer of 2022.

The former Celtic academy player, who is the son of ex-motherwell defender Chris Mccart, goes straight into Tommy Wright’s squad for tonight’s clash with league leaders Celtic at Mcdiarmid Park, subject to SFA clearance.

Saints were in need of reinforcements having allowed Ross Callachan to move to Dundee on loan and sold Matty Kennedy to Aberdeen.

Mccart, pictured, made 62 appearances in 18 months with Inverness in the Championship and was a regular in the heart of the Caley Jags defence. He will become part of a Saints rearguard that has only conceded three goals in eight games and lost once in that period, with Saturday’s 2-1 win over Kilmarnock taking them five points clear of the bottom two.

Ahead of facing Celtic tonight, Saints goalkeeper Zander Clark said his side were in buoyant mood.

“The boys are all confident,” he said. “We are coming off the back of a good result at the weekend, one where we had to dig in deep. We controlled the game for large spells and it gives us a boost going into Wednesday.

“We need to make sure we have the same sort of performance level that we had at the weekend. We need to be brave on the ball, try to retain possession and try to make the pass in the build-up play count.

“We need to make sure we are solid in defence again and takes chances when we create them.”