Struggling home form puzzles Saints gaffer

TOMMY Wright admits it is a mystery to him why St Johnstone excel away from home but continue to struggle in Perth.

The Northern Irishman’s side have won just three of their nine matches at McDiarmid Park, with last weekend’s 1-1 draw with Motherwell providing another frustrating afternoon.

On their travels, Saints have impressed on their way to collecting 13 points from eight games.

Wright even feels the sole defeat they suffered at Inverness was harsh and believes maximum points could have been taken at places like Ibrox, Tynecastle and Pittodrie with a little more good fortune.

But speaking ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Kilmarnock, the Saints boss confessed he cannot explain the rotten luck hampering his men in the Fair City.

He said: “I’m pleased with our away form so far. We’ve only had one defeat and even that came in the last minute at Inverness.

“We’ve been excellent on the road. We probably should have won at Ibrox and Hearts and could have won at Aberdeen.

“Is there a reason for that? We’ve made fewer mistakes and that’s the bottom line.

“We don’t set up much differently than we do at home but all our big mistakes and costly errors seem to come at McDiarmid.

“I can’t put my finger on why that is. The shape doesn’t change from how we play week to week, so there’s no logical reason for why we make more mistakes at home.”

Wright, however, is taking nothing for granted ahead of facing a Killie side managed by his old Newcastle team-mate Lee Clark.

“It’s a different set of circumstances tomorrow night,” he said.

“We’re dealing with a plastic pitch and a team who are very difficult to beat, which is a credit to Lee after he seemed to be written off by everybody only a few weeks ago.”

St Johnstone’s Murray Davidson is congratulated by team-mates after scoring in his side’s 3-0 home win against Inverness at the beginning of the month.