IT’S NOWT TO SHOUT ABOUT
Saints end slump but goal-shy Perth men still can’t find the net
ST JOHNSTONE manager Tommy Wright put his feet up as he celebrated his 200th game in charge of St Johnstone.
But his team fell short of finding the net again and have now gone 366 minutes without scoring, even if they arrested a form slump of three defeats in a row.
Wright is nursing a crocked knee after slipping going up the Murrayfield tunnel at half-time in Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Hearts.
He was forced to look on from the stand as assistant Alex Cleland did the doggies up and down the McDiarmid Park stairs with instructions to the dugout.
Wright said: “My knee has been playing up so I had to watch the game from the stand and actually enjoyed it.
“It’s much more relaxing, although I don’t think Alex enjoyed running up and down those stairs!
“It’s nice to reach the 200 game mark, the double century is quite a milestone as this is the longest I’ve ever managed a club.
“It’s just frustrating we couldn’t get the break during the game but we lacked a wee bit of composure and luck.
“It’s a draw that takes us to 15 points and it’s a reasonably good start.”
There was an absence of creativity in the final third that made the early going a drag, although Danish striker Thomas Mikkelsen saw a back post header deflected over by Aaron Comrie off a Marcus Fraser cross.
Tim Chow also robbed Steven MacLean in midfield and swapped passes with Mikkelsen at the edge of the box, but was wide and wasteful when he should really have hit the target.
Saints hadn’t found the net since their 2-1 win against Hamilton a month ago, 276 minutes without a goal going into this match, but Stefan Scougall tried hard to amend the stats.
He had a fierce drive from the edge of the box charged down by Chow after Michael O’Halloran took advantage of a slip from Kenny van der Weg.
The midfielder went even closer minutes later with the best chance of the game, but Scott Fox was at full stretch to tip his volley around the post.
Saints suffered a blow three minutes before the break when O’Halloran, who looked lively, limped off with what appeared to be a recurrence of an ankle injury with David Wotherspoon on in his place.
Saints keeper Zander Clark held a Davis Keillor-Dunn header under his bar before Scougall fired another chance over the top.
Paul Paton missed a golden chance to put Saints ahead three minutes into the second half, nodding straight at Fox from Brian Easton’s cross.
Full-back Aaron Comrie then played a slick one-two with Wotherspoon at the edge of the box but blazed over.
Saints came close to breaking the deadlock after an hour, but Joe Shaughnessy narrowly failed to connect with Wotherspoon’s free-kick.
Coyle replaced Mikkelsen with Craig Curran up top and hooked Ryan Dow for Alex Schalk, moments after Zander Clark’s diving save, kept out a Keillor-Dunn strike.
Staggies keeper Fox was forced off for back-up Aaron McCarey in 76 minutes after he stretched his knee on a long kick down the field.
And boss Coyle is hoping it’s not as bad as first feared.
He said: “It could be a tear that might rule him out for up to eight weeks but we hope it isn’t so severe.
“It was a hard fought game and overall a draw is probably a fair result.”