Saints slack to basics
DOYLE 6 SMITH 7 6
never really looked in doubt. In fact the Canadian could have scored before his 52nd-minute breakthrough, denied by a good save by Zander Clark.
But his big moment came seven minutes into the second half when John Souttar conjured a wonder ful
Tommy Wright reckons St Johnstone’s record on the road crashed to an end because they stopped doing the basics that got them this far.
The Perth men had won six away games on the trot without conceding when they arrived in Gorgie yesterday but never looked like stretching that proud run any further.
Wright acknowledged that Hearts deserved their 2- 0 triumph that sees the Jambos leapfrog them into fifth place, albeit having played a game more.
He said: “I can’t be too critical of the players after the run we’ve been on but they know it wasn’t good enough to win.
“We started OK for 10 minutes but it ha s happened twice here now that we’ve looked lethargic and second to everything.
“You have to compete to win football games and we didn’t do that.
“When you play three at the back, Hearts did it well starting off from the back but we didn’t look to do it.
“There was a lack of taking responsibility. It wasn’t until we went to a four and brought Danny Swanson on that we looked like we wanted to pass.
“Even that period wasn’t good enough to create chances. Although Hearts were good, we made it all too easy for them.
“It was a disappointing afternoon but we’ll learn from it and move on.”
Performed well in tricky conditions and managed to show a good level of consistency. Used his know-how in applying the advantage rule wisely and was fair with his cards. A decent day for one of the country’s most experienced whistlers. 7