Battling Buddies give Goodwin real hope for Celts test
A THIRD game without defeat and another point further away from the bottom of the Premiership were positives for both St Johnstone and St Mirren on a day when the turgid action on the pitch would have had most in attendance wishing they had instead chose the chaos of Christmas shopping.
Michael O’Halloran passed up the best opportunity of the match when he failed to get the better of Buddies keeper Vaclav Hladky in a first-half one-on-one duel but it was a day when effort and attitude won out over any attacking intent.
Yet, with the visit of champions Celtic the next challenge for St Mirren, manager Jim Goodwin saw enough to leave McDiarmid Park content and optimistic for Boxing Day and the final pre-split fixture against Kilmarnock on Sunday.
‘A point away from home is a good result,’ he said. ‘We prepared for a battle. We knew it wouldn’t be pretty and the pitch was heavy.
‘We had to roll our sleeves up and get stuck in, so I was delighted with that. We ran ourselves into the ground and that battling quality will be vital for the rest of the season.
‘A point was the fair result on the balance of how the game went.
‘We have put a few decent results together now and it was important to do that because of the teams we are playing.
‘A point and a clean sheet on the road is positive and I think we are in a good place at the moment.
‘Hopefully we can carry that into the last two games before the winter break. I’d love to get a win going into the second half of the season. Maybe we can catch Celtic on the hop.’
Both sides could claim to be on the up heading into this festive fixture. Taking four points from a possible six, the Perth Saints had lifted themselves three points clear of the bottom and optimistic of keeping their revival going.
O’Halloran stung the palms of Hladky within 45 seconds but any hopes the home side had of the chance being a portent of things to come were soon dashed as the encounter settled into an even affair that saw both teams enjoy spells of meaningful possession.
Chances were at a premium, however, and when St Mirren did engineer a sight at goal after 16 minutes, it was down to a mistake.
Home skipper Jason Kerr’s slip gifted the ball to on-form Jon Obika, scorer of a double in last weekend’s 3-3 draw with Livingston. However, the striker selfishly ignored the runs of Junior Morias and Ilkay Durmus and his shot was beaten away by Zander Clark.
Paul McGinn clumsily knocked over Matty Kennedy in the box — but without enough intent to tempt referee John Beaton to point to the spot — and Cammy MacPherson screwed his shot wide before St Johnstone enjoyed their best opening of the half.
Neat interplay in the centre circle sent O’Halloran scampering clear but Hladky advanced to block the attacker’s low shot with his legs.
A lack of goals has been one of St Mirren’s major shortcomings and when they botched a two-on-one opportunity in the 28th minute, it again highlighted their problem.
Morias was at least on target with a drilled effort five minutes from the break but Clark was equal to it.
Both teams were hamstrung by a lack of quality in the final third but St Mirren at least tested Clark with a Sam Foley shot before Sean McLoughlin could only find the side netting with his volley from a Durmus free-kick.
‘A draw was fair but we had the two best chances,’ said St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright. ‘If we had take one of them, it would have been so different.’