Davidson’s double helps lifts Saints out of the relegation zone
st johnstone 2 Davidson (29, 40) ross county 0
Tommy Wright insists St Johnstone can launch an assault on the top six after registering a home win for the first time in five months.
A double from Murray Davidson, who bagged the winner on their last McDiarmid Park victory back in September, was enough to lift the Perth men to within six points of Kilmarnock in sixth.
It was a miserable afternoon for Ross County, who saw Craig Curran red-carded six minutes from time for a second booking.
But, after being criticised by Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers for only lifting their game against his side and Rangers, Saints proved they were up for the battle after being dragged perilously close to the relegation zone.
Wright said: “The way we look at it is we’re still only five points behind Motherwell (in seventh) with two games in hand.
“We’ve done our job, we can be happy with our days’ work and recover and get ready to go again on Tuesday night against Rangers.
“There are enough games left and enough points available for us to continue to move up the table and hopefully we’ll do that.”
There were few signs early on that Saints could arrest a miserable home run stretching eight games without a win.
County, with four points from their last two matches, were comfortable enough without threatening the breakthrough against a home team buoyed by their goalless draw with Celtic last weekend but struggling to create anything of their own.
But, suddenly, the match was lit up by the opener in the 29th minute.
Scott Tanser created space on the left edge of the box with a sharp 1-2 with David Wotherspoon.
The Saints full-back’s superb cross was inviting for Steven MacLean whose intelligent header down was swept into the net by the supporting Davidson.
County’s reaction was minimal and Saints doubled their advantage 11 minutes later.
Chris Kane chased down a MacLean pass and his cutback deflected into the path of Davidson whose curling, dipping drive looked to have been blocked by Scott Fox’s outstretched arm – only for the ball to drop agonisingly beyond the goalkeeper and into the net.
Shortly after, it was almost three. Wotherspoon’s low cross was smashed against his own crossbar by a miscued clearance from Staggies skipper Marcus Fraser.
It left County with just one win from their last 16 league games and three points adrift at the bottom of the table, but manager Owen Coyle is remaining positive his side can get themselves out of trouble – if they can improve on this display.
He said: “Sometimes you can have two or three players out of sorts but I’ll be honest, I’m struggling to give two or three pass marks. It’s certainly a sore one to take.
“We’ve got some huge games coming up and we have to be better than we were today.”