Kerr vows to be Mr Versatile for Saints

St Johnstone defender Jason Kerr is prepared to play in any position asked of him by managerTommyWright.

The centre-back was pushed into the midfield in the second half of Saturday’s disappointing league opener against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park.

Kerr, a Scotland Under-21 international, played in the centre of the park when he first joined the Perth club in the summer of 2015.

He has since moved back to establish himself as a regular starter in the heart of Saints’ defence but is ready to play wherever needed.

“The gaffer has said about it before,”Kerr said.“I’m capable on the ball so if I step in front of the back two I can get on it and keep things ticking over.

“It was something we tried — I’m not sure if it worked — but I can play there and we’ll just need to wait and see.

“When I first came into the club, I was a midfielder. I played midfield all my days until a couple of years ago when I moved back to centre-half.

“I know the position but have never played it with the first team. It was familiar to me but we’ll see what the gaffer does.

“It’s a bit different to centre-half and you’re obviously further forward. At centre-half, you can see everything but in midfield you need to know where you are. It is different, but good.”

Saturday’s curtain-raiser in Ayrshire did not go to plan and Kerr knows that the performance across the 90 minutes was not good enough.

“It was a disappointing one and all of the boys were

disappointed,”said the 21-year-old. “We started the first 15 minutes well but, apart from that, we didn’t really get at them at all. It wasn’t good enough.

“Giving away the free-kick was the first error for the goal and then we weren’t organised quick enough to track the man that went in behind.

“It’s not Zander’s fault — everyone makes mistakes — and he knows he should catch it.

“That one goal knocked us and then it was all Kilmarnock from there on.

“I think we went long too many times and Tony Watt was a bit isolated. He didn’t have much support.

“Maybe we should’ve got on the ball earlier, tried to play and expose them. We didn’t do that much and it showed.

“But all of the boys know that and we’ll hope to put it right on Sunday.”

Kerr is determined to bounce back this weekend when Hibs visit Perth.

The game kicks-off at 3pm on Sunday due to the Edinburgh side’s involvement in European football on Thursday evening.

Neil Lennon’s men face a Europa League third qualifying round first leg test against Norwegian side Molde before their trip to McDiarmid Park.

“You always want to see Scottish teams do well in Europe. It’s better for Scottish football,”said Kerr.

“Even with Hibs playing this midweek game, they will still be a very strong side. We are not underestimating them at all.

“We’ll go into the game fully expecting Hibs to be on their game.”