The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Cummins helps unzip ICT defence
Striker has an eye for goal as he salvages draw in Wright’s milestone game
ST JOHNSTONE 1 INVERNESS CT 1 HIS last-gasp header salvaged a point and summer signing Graham Cummins staked a claim for a start in tomorrow’s home clash with Ross County.
The former Exeter City attacker made an instant impression on Scottish football when he required medical assistance to separate his eyelid from a training top zip.
But the Irishman has unzipped Hearts and Inverness Caley Thistle defences after being invited to mount salvage operations from the bench.
While his poacher’s strike at Tynecastle ultimately counted for nought in a 4-3 defeat, an exquisitely executed header on Joe Shaughnessy’s teasing 90th minute cross grabbed a point and got never-say-die Saints’ league campaign up and running in manager Tommy Wright’s 100th game in charge.
Cummins maintained: “I want to play but I’m not going to be complaining and knocking on the manager’s door and saying I should be playing every week.
“Liam Craig was saying the danger is the manager might see me as an impact player.
“But if I come off the bench and score every week I will take that.
“I’m more satisfied this week because we got a point. It is always important not to start with two losses.
“Inverness played well but we were very sluggish. But we picked it up and nicked the goal towards the end.
“If we had got it earlier we might have pushed on and got another but in the circumstances we’ll take a point.
“It was a great ball in from Joe and I was happy with the finish.”
The striker’s eye for a goal has already impressed Perth fans, who had a chuckle at their new man’s bizarre injury discomfort.
He said: “The eye has probably put me and the club on the map. I’d rather it was my goals people were talking about but I can take a joke.
“I think I heard someone in the crowd calling me ‘Zippy! I didn’t expect that but it was just a freak incident and you have to laugh at yourself.”
Another recent arrival, Brad McKay, paid the price for a troubled league baptism in Edinburgh and veteran Frazer Wright was invited to provide solidity in the heart of the defence.
But the injury plagued Highlanders took full advantage of hesitancy in the re-jigged Perth backline by snatching a ninth minute advantage.
And they looked destined to preserve that solidly defended lead as stoppage time beckoned.
After leaking four to Hearts, Saints again gifted the opposition an early goal.
Skipper Wright stretched but failed to tidy-up on the edge of the penalty area, allowing Dani Lopez scope to advance.
The striker couldn’t exploit the opportunity but fast maturing 20-yearold Ryan Christie rifled a crisp 16-yard finish into the far corner of the net.
The scorer then picked Murray Davidson’s pocket in the 20th minute and only a desperate lunge from the backtracking Perth midfielder prevented further self-inflicted damage as Christie cut inside Wright and threatened to provide another penalty box finish.
Keeper Fon Williams prevented Michael O’Halloran levelling with a fierce rising snapshot midway through the first half but at that stage Saints were ponderous and lacking imagination.
On the stroke of half-time keeper Alan Mannus diverted Andrea Mutombo’s angled effort after the centre had turned Tam Scobbie.
Less than six weeks after fearing his season was over before it had even started, Davidson galvanised the Perth side and relentlessly drove on his team-mates to prove the knee injury sustained in Europa League action has fully healed.
Strikers Cummins and Steven MacLean replaced Simon Lappin and John Sutton as Wright sought a way back into the contest.
O’Halloran, who posed more of a threat cutting in from the right flank than through the centre, scooped a shot off target and Davidson tested the keeper with a header.
But Christie wormed his way into another threatening position in the 73rd minute and only a brilliant one-handed Mannus stop kept Saints in the contest.
The home team pounded the Highlanders in the closing stages but were held at bay until Cummins made the most of rare space in the penalty area to guide a textbook header inside the upright.
Manager Wright said: “We deserved something from the game, but not from the first half when we were too slow.
“We weren’t sharp enough and there was indecision at their goal. We should have tidied it up.
“But you can never question their character and I was pleased with the point.”