Clean sheets vital for Wright approach

St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright has admitted he “detests” conceding goals.

And the Perth boss wants his team’s clean-sheet badge of honour back on their kit.

The goals have flowed in the first few weeks of the season but, according to Wright, it is the goals conceded statistic that separates teams fighting against relegation from those that make the top six.

He said: “It has been a frustrating start for the players rather than for me because they haven’t got the rewards from what they have put into games.

“At the start of the season if someone had said we’d have scored six goals we would have expected to have more than two points at this stage.

“The points tally doesn’t equate to how well they have played. We have to cut out the mistakes that are costing us dear at the moment. It is back to basics and let’s start keeping clean sheets again.”

Wright, whose team face Motherwell tomorrow, added: “I hate losing goals. I detest it. But we didn’t keep many cleansheets at the start of the season last year so this is similar.

“We pride ourselves on keeping clean sheets in more than 50% of our games. That is what we have achieved in recent seasons and we have to get back to that.

“Do that and we will start winning games. I would take a 1-0 win rather than a 4-3 at the minute. We have played some decent stuff, but right now give me a boring 1-0 win,” he said.

“Motherwell are a strong side with pace in the wide areas. It won’t be easy.

“There isn’t much between teams in this league so clean sheets are important. It can be the difference between top six and bottom six.”

Midfielder Scott Brown has been loaned out to Dumbarton, while centre-back Gareth Rodger is off to Ballymena. Both deals run through to the end of the calendar year.

“We are top heavy with central midfielders, and to have any chance of getting someone in I needed to get people out on loan,” Wright said.

He added: “We have David Wotherspoon, Simon Lappin, Chrissie Millar, Murray Davidson and Liam Craig all comfortable in there . . .

“There were League Two clubs in Scotland interested in Gareth but I think the standard will be better for him over in Northern Ireland. It will be good experience for him.”

“He picked up so many niggling injuries last season, but a good three or four months will see him come back here and come into the reckoning here,” he said.

“We have a lot of young players out on loan. People say we have a big squad but we have five of the squad out. And we are always looking to bring in players.”