CUP’S STILL HALF FULL FOR SAINTS
Carey insists early exit won’t stop Perth men from enjoying really good season
GRAHAM CAREY insisted it’s still too early to judge Callum Davidson’s side after St Johnstone exited the Premier Sports Cup.
Carey scored the only goal of the game with less than two minutes on the clock – but it wasn’t enough to overhaul the better goal difference of secondplaced Queen of the South as Annan topped Group F.
The issue of not being clinical enough in front of goal is not a new one for the Perth men.
Their first-half performance ought to have had the game won before Ayr roused themselves for a spirited second-half display.
Stevie May played despite being ill with Theo Blair injured and while there are clear issues for St Johnstone – who hung onto their Premiership status by the skin of their teeth last term – Carey reckons they are ready for their league opener against Hibs on Saturday.
He said: “There was a lot of good stuff in the first half, although it’ll be a tougher game coming up at the weekend.
“With the experience we’ve brought in and the young lads coming through, we can have a really good season.
“It all starts next week and hopefully we can start off the league season with a win.
“The clean sheet was a positive and while there are a lot of things we need to work on, we’re going in the right direction.
“In the first half we created a lot of good opportunities but just didn’t have as many bodies in the box as we’d have liked.
“If we can get crosses in like we did against Ayr and get enough bodies in the box, we should score a lot of goals.
“It probably is a mentality thing but we just need to be a bit more positive in the final third and not be afraid to commit players into the box.
“I and the other midfielders are guilty of not getting into the box and not doing the extra yard to get into the box, so that will be something we’ll look to do against Hibs.
“It was pleasing to get off the mark personally but to me goals don’t matter too much – it’s the team result.”
Carey accepted the dip in performance in the second period – as Ayr pressed for a leveller – was a frustration.
He said: “First half was positive, the second half not so positive. Everybody could see the difference in the way we played in the second half compared to the first half.
“We spoke about that in the dressing room afterwards. The manager wasn’t happy and neither were the players. But there were a lot of positives to take from the first half.”
Carey believes there should be no hangover from last season. There have been a number of new arrivals, Carey included.
And he added: “There shouldn’t be a hangover because we stayed in the league, we should be looking forward and not backwards.
“It’s difficult going straight into competitive matches. We only had one friendly and then it was straight into the cup.
“We do a lot of work on the training ground on tactics and the way we need to play.
“But new players need to know about others players, how they want the ball and how we can play together.
“As long as we keep a clean sheet, we’ve a lot of goals so we just need to be a bit more positive. Hopefully we can get off to a good start.”