Saints head into international break with a spring in their step
hamilton accies 1 Bingham (68) st johnstone 2 Alston (37), McMillan (45)
St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright thought his team should have won more comfortably but was happy to round off the first part of the season on a high as the domestic top flight shuts down for the international break. Wright was delighted to ass Danny Swanson and Ross Callachan yesterday to bolster his squad and although neither played in this win, first-half goals from Blair Alston and David McMillan took them into joint second place in the Scottish Premiership. Accies replied through Rakish Bingham but never really looked like levelling. Wright, who also made complimentary remarks about the new Accies pitch, said: “I spoke to the chairman in January about what we needed he club forward and we knew we wanted add pace and reduce the average age. “We’ve signed players who tick the boxes and have hit the ground running. “Overall, I’m pleased and this win adds to my pleasure. I thought we should have won by more.” The first half, watched by 1,719 supporters, was far from a classic but that mattered not a jot to the visitors as they headed in for their half-time energy drinks two goals to the good. They survived a couple of scares when Zander Clark was forced to make a save to deny Bingham. Steven Boyd’s curling shot from inside the box was just a yard off target. Saints soaked it all up and then took a hold of proceedings on the half hour. Just seven minutes later they took the lead. Accies keeper Gary Woods could only parry McMillan’s header, and Alston was there to pounce and
bullet the ball home from three yards out. They were delighted with that, but the timing of the next goal resulted in Wright punching the air in delight. In first-half stoppage time, Richard Foster’s inviting cross to the back post was met by McMillan and he headed powerfully into the net. Accies looked drained as they left the pitch at the interval. In contrast, Saints had a spring in their step. Saints could have scored more. McMillan missed an open goal in the 64th minute after being set up by Tony Watt. Liam Craig then had a shot saved by Woods. But the game was wide open in the 68th minute when Bingham drilled the ball home from 12 yards, low past Clark. All of a sudden, there was renewed optimism and urgency from the home players. However, the best chance in the closing stages fell to Perth sub Chris Kane but he failed to hit the target from 25 yards out when Woods was way out of his goal. Disappointed Accies boss Martin Canning said: “We defended poorly. “It was ridiculous and a comedy of errors. “We didn’t justify taking anything from the game.”