The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Spoony magic puts Saints in top six as star heads to Qatar
St Johnstone 1 Motherwell 1
St Johnstone fans were treated to David Wotherspoon opening up his box of tricks one last time before the Premiership break.
And Melker Hallberg and the rest of his Perth teammates are now hoping the three-time cup winner shows his magic on the biggest football stage of them all.
Wotherspoon’s World Cup selection for Canada has been confirmed.
It came on the back of another impressive display for Saints in the weekend 1-1 draw with Motherwell, which included a moment of penalty box skill that led to Drey Wright’s opening goal.
It’s what Perth supporters and players have come to expect.
Now the Spoony Appreciation Society could soon be getting bigger.
“It would be great for Spoony to play in the World Cup,” said Hallberg.
“He’s done an unbelievable journey to come back from his injury.
“The whole team will want to watch his games.
“It was a classic Spoony Chop, wasn’t it for the goal? Hopefully we see that at the World Cup.”
Saints finished the first stage of the Premiership season in sixth, having extended their unbeaten run to five with the draw on Saturday.
Staying there (or preferably improving) is the primary goal when the league resumes.
“We are happy where we are in the league,” said Hallberg. “The team has done brilliantly – we’ve got a lot of confidence.
“I said at the start of the season when it was a little bit rocky and we lost a few that we’ve got a good team.
“We just had to take it easy and we would get there. We could tell as soon as we saw our squad on the last day of the transfer window that we had a really good one.
“I just thought it was a case of making sure we kept going. The confidence is really high and that’s really good.”
The former Hibs man added: “To finish this spell in the top six is good for us psychologically. We haven’t set any targets but it’s the top six you want to aim for.
“That’s the part of the league where you want to be. We will have a few weeks off, recover and come back even stronger and keep pushing even harder.
“The job we do every day on the training pitch has brought us to the top six.
“We need to keep on at each other every day and keep working hard and hopefully we stay up there.”
Motherwell started the brightest and zipped passes around the slick Mcdiarmid Park surface.
But they lacked the necessary penetration in the final third to trouble St Johnstone’s three-man defence.
Kevin van Veen’s shot was held by Remi Matthews eight minutes in after a deflection took the sting out of his effort.
At the other end four minutes later, Stephen O’donnell had to look sharp to clear from the lurking Wotherspoon after Stevie May scampered on to a free-kick over the top.
The home side were howling in protest in the 20th minute as referee Nick Walsh impeded Graham Carey in the centre circle, allowing Motherwell to attack at pace.
But Louis Moult’s touch on Stuart Mckinstry’s low cross was blocked at his near post by Matthews.
Just as the visitors appeared to be building a head of steam, St Johnstone snatched the initiative with the opening goal.
Adam Montgomery picked out Wotherspoon in the box and, after he bought space for a shot with a trademark turn, Wright knocked in Liam Kelly’s parry.
The goal buoyed Saints and May lifted a lob over the bar after a slack header from Callum Slattery and Nicky Clark was off target with a header from a Hallberg corner.
But, with seconds left in the added minute of firsthalf stoppage time, Motherwell restored parity.
Sean Goss was fouled at the left corner of the box and Blair Spittal’s free-kick took a wicked deflection on its way into the net past a stranded Matthews.
Motherwell enjoyed the lion’s share of possession at the start of the second period and Mckinstry fired high and wide in the 55th minute before Spittal volleyed harmlessly wide three minutes later.
But, just as they had in the opening period, Saints recovered to take charge and Hallberg’s powerful drive was deflected twice as it flashed just wide on the hour mark.
Motherwell responded as both sides sought the winner and Ryan Mcgowan bravely flung himself in the way of a net-bound effort from Mckinstry.
With 11 minutes remaining, the visitors ramped up the pressure again as Moult robbed Liam Gordon of possession on the right side of the home box.
His cut-back was dealt with by the Saints defence but the clearance was seized on by Van Veen and another block was required to keep the Fir Park side out.
Substitute Ali Crawford had an opportunity to win it for the home side in the 90th minute but Kelly held on in the Motherwell goal to secure their first point in three outings.
Well boss Steven Hammell said: “A draw was the right result. This is a difficult place to come, I’ve been here as a player with really good Motherwell teams and lost.
“A point wasn’t what we came for but we will settle for it because we haven’t drawn enough games this season. That’s only our second draw.
“It wasn’t what we wanted but it’s not a disaster.”