Soaring Saints eye a place at top table
IS there a more one-sided rivalry in football right now? In beating Dundee United on Saturday, St Johnstone made it eight wins and a draw from the last 10 meetings with their Tayside foes.
If the result was no surprise, victory against an admittedly improved United side provided fresh vindication for Tommy Wright after he turned down the Tannadice job to remain in Perth.
Now led by Mixu Paatelainen (below), United lie six points adrift at the foot of the Premiership.
Saints, by contrast, are in the semi-finals of the League Cup and riding high in the league thanks to the hottest streak of away form in club history; six wins out of six on the road.
Wright’s men are sitting pretty in fourth and the Ulsterman believes a third-place finish is not out of the question for a well-run club that continues to punch above its weight.
‘It’s not unrealistic for us to split Hearts and Aberdeen if we continue in this form,’ Wright said.
‘That was as good as I’ve seen United this season but, in the second half, we proved what a good side we are. We controlled most of the second 45 and it was a great result. But we’ll keep our feet on the ground.’
In a bid to make his side hard to beat, Paatelainen switched to an unusual 3-4-2-1 shape, with six of his back seven being recognised defenders. They included Gavin Gunning, who was making his first appearance for the club since the most painful of their recent losses to Saints — the 2014 Scottish Cup Final.
A solid start by the hosts paid off when Ryan McGowan burst down the right, played a one-two with Charlie Telfer, then sent over a dangerous cross which Billy Mckay headed past Alan Mannus.
But there was an immediate scare for United when Dave Mackay’s free-kick rebounded off the inside of the beaten Michal Szromnik’s post. Then came arguably the turning point when Telfer was clean through on goal but Mannus saved bravely.
Having survived that scare, Saints duly got to grip with United’s system and equalised two minutes before half-time when Chris Kane headed home a David Wotherspoon corner. For all United had defended well up until that point it was a pitiful goal to lose.
Then, two minutes later, the home defence were caught napping again. Michael O’Halloran crossed and Joe Shaughnessy should have scored, but Steven MacLean hit the loose ball against the post before Murray Davidson squeezed the ball in to put Saints ahead.
After United’s McGowan was booked for diving, referee Craig Thomson awarded St Johnstone a second-half penalty after John Rankin felled Kane in the box.
MacLean ballooned his spot-kick over the bar before a fabulous diving save from Mannus prevented Blair Spittal’s longrange effort rescuing a point for spirited United.
Match-winner Davidson believes Saints’ remarkable march has been fuelled by once again being written off following a slow start, including a Europa League exit to FC Alashkert of Armenia.
‘We’ve had a few seasons in the top flight where we haven’t started well,’ he said. ‘It seems to be a regular thing where we get written off after losing key players in the summer.
‘People predict a tough season for us but we always seem to pull through. But I suppose expectations are high because we are now an established top-six team.
‘We still don’t feel we get a huge amount of credit but we’re happy to prove people wrong. It’s impossible to ignore what we’ve done the last few seasons.
‘You can look at the budget of this squad and compare it to other clubs but you can’t buy the spirit and togetherness we have.’
On a personal level, Davidson was happy to get his second goal of the season, his first since the 3-1 League Cup demolition of Rangers at Ibrox in September.
‘I scored from about half-a-yard out,’ he laughed. ‘It landed at my feet and I put it in off a defender. ‘But it’s definitely my goal because I hadn’t scored in a while and I’m delighted to get my first-ever goal at Tannadice. The fact it proved to be the winner made it even better.
‘The game was a real battle. We could really have done with Stevie’s penalty going in because it would have given us a cushion. But we were delighted to hold on and now we want to keep our great run going.’