We can beat anyone, says Saints captain with Staggies in his sights
St Johnstone couldn’t buy a win in the first two months of the season and a 2-0 defeat at St Mirren saw them prop up the Premiership after nine games.
Now club captain Jason Kerr reckons they’re capable of beating anyone.
Tommy Wright’s men have turned things around in their last nine matches, winning four and drawing three to lift themselves to ninth place, seven points above basement club Hearts.
A vital 1-0 win at Hamilton on Boxing Day intensified the feelgood factor and now they intend to ring out the old by beating Ross County at
Mcdiarmid Park to move above the Highlanders.
“We’re all very disappointed with how we started the season,” admitted Kerr.
“The fans have every right to be disappointed as well but it’s good that we’ve picked up some form and the manager said that.
“Hopefully, we can keep this run going and get points on the board. Right now, I feel like we can beat anyone with the quality we have in this squad.
“We’re four points off the top six so, when you’re having a bad run, it takes just two or three games to turn things around.
“I don’t think any of the boys panicked when we were down there, so that’s a good thing.
“To be fair, we were always confident in ourselves when everyone else wasn’t, and that was key, especially being such a young squad.”
Saints shipped 24 goals in their opening 10 fixtures but have tightened up to the extent that they’ve kept a clean sheet in each of their last four outings, which has delighted the 22-year-old centre-back.
“We were so disappointed in the goals we were conceding and it was the same mistakes week in, week out – the manager must have been tearing his hair out!” he said.
“But I don’t think he or the players panicked. We all knew the results would come, we just had to cut out the mistakes.
“But it’s good we’ve had a run of shut-outs. We did that last season – we got six clean sheets in a row
– so, hopefully, we can beat that and then our front six players can go and win a game for us.
“It would be good to put a performance in against Ross County and get further up that table.
“Going into the winter break near the top six will be good for us and we can kick on from there.”
Opponents Ross County have lost their last two league games, but keeper Nathan Baxter isn’t too down about the situation.
Indeed, the Chelsea loanee reckons moving to Scotland has given his career a boost, and subverted all notions of what constitutes a big game.
The keeper’s four past loan spells have been at places like Yeovil Town and Woking, down in the darker reaches of England’s national leagues. During his seasons in those divisions, victories for teams nearer the bottom against teams nearer the top were far from uncommon.
Given the dominance of Celtic and the restored might of Rangers, along with those competing fiercely for the remaining European place, Baxter has been taken aback by the disparity at play within one 12-team league.
That makes games like today’s trip to Perth far more box office for Ross County than a glamour match against the Old Firm.
The highly-rated 21-year-old said: “Any game against a team in and around us is massive this season, whether before the winter break or not.
“We know we need to pick up points against the teams around us and just how vital that can be.
“It is a different experience for me coming into this league, as compared to playing in England’s leagues where pretty much anyone can beat anyone.
“Here there can be a far bigger disparity within the same division and we need to make sure we beat those sides around us.
“We’ve been better at home in recent weeks, so going away to Perth it is important put in a good performance.
“It is a huge game and we want to go into the time off during the break on the back of a victory.
“It is a massive game for us coming off the back of a defeat.
“We’ll make sure we’re on it and go again.”