The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Another late sickener for slipshod Saints
Midfielder Craig rues lastgasp losses that have cost St Johnstone top six spot
ST JOHNSTONE 1 PARTICK THISTLE 1
It was little consolation for St Johnstone’s frustrated manager Tommy Wright and his players, but the Perth club formally preserved their top flight status with a point against relegation threatened Partick Thistle.
But with Saints eager to leapfrog Motherwell to claim seventh spot in the table and the financial rewards in the run-in, there was no masking their disappointment at conceding a late goal in painfully familiar circumstances.
Wright’s men have prided themselves on their defensive solidity in posting regular top six finishes but the number of goals conceded this term – now 50 – and the sense of déjà vu enveloping many of them is a source of concern.
Against Dundee the previous week a straightforward free-kick up the park was their undoing.
The Dark Blues struck a winner and this time round Saints’ January transfer window target Conor Sammon was afforded scope to calmly stroke home an unlikely penalty leveller when clearance efforts proved ineffectual and Liam Craig threw out a leg to trip Ryan Edwards.
In the first-half, the midfielder had crafted Joe Shaughnessy’s headed goal with a brilliant piece of individual skill to control a dipping and overhit David Wotherspoon cross on the byline.
Craig’s flicked cross picked out his captain at the back post and Shaughnessy’s first goal of the season was a formality.
Saints were dominant and largely untroubled with the clock counting down, but a Thistle side battling for their Premier lives left with a point, leaving them two ahead of Friday’s opponents Ross County and four behind Dundee and Hamilton Accies, the teams directly above them, in the chase for safety.
“It was a disappointing end to a game for the second week running, losing late goals,” said Craig, who didn’t quibble with the 88th minute spot kick awarded by referee Alan Muir. “That’s why we are in the position we are. Too many times we have lost late goals, especially from set pieces.
“Over the last few seasons when we have been top six we haven’t done that. If you add up all the points we’ve dropped that’s why we are in this half of the league and not the top six.
“We are looking to finish the season strong and the two latest performances haven’t been that bad in terms of chances created, possession and the way we have used the ball.
“But the three goals we have lost have cost us points.
“We only missed out on the top six by a couple of points to Hearts.
“If we had tidied it up a bit we would have been there or thereabouts. We have only ourselves to blame.
“Over the last seven or eight years the club has had a great run with great achievements. But we were there because we have good players and we know how
to win games. There is a discipline within the squad to know how to win games at this level.
“But last week it was me that drops a runner and this week I give away a penalty. It’s not good enough at this level. You will get punished.”
On the plus side, Craig’s creativity was rewarded with Shaughnessy’s header six minutes before the interval.
“The part of my game I have been most pleased with is the amount of assists I’ve had,” he said.
Thistle were looking to claim a fourth win of the season at McDiarmid, a onetime bogey ground, but home keeper Zander Clark was rarely bothered, with energetic on-loan Man United midfielder Matty Willock the pick of the Perth players.
Jags striker Kris Doolan did crash a 63rd minute header off the crossbar but the offside flag had been raised.
Steven MacLean steered a side-footer over the target from a George Williams cutback and the on-loan Fulham attacker tested keeper Tomas Cerny with a shot on the turn after good work by Richard Foster on the right flank.
Saints teenage substitute John Robertson picked up his first caution in senior football after conceding the free-kick which led to the Jags leveller.
While Thistle manager Alan Archibald welcomed a point which could yet prove precious in the bid to maintain their Premier status, official confirmation of another season in the top flight cut no ice with Wright.
“I don’t think it’s any consolation, not at the minute,” he said.
“You can lose late goals but it is the manner of how we have lost it.
“That has been our Achilles heel most of the season.
“We have probably conceded more goals from set-plays this season than in all the previous seasons I have been here.
“You couldn’t even call it a set-play. It is a punt into the box from 50-yards. It is similar to last week and the most frustrating thing is we haven’t learned our lesson. “All round it is a rank bad goal. “It is something that has cost us three points because we were easily the better side.
“We were in control and we were the better team but we should have seen it out.
“That is four points dropped in two games but I would say we have dropped up to 20 points due to goals that are easily preventable.”
Thistle have not won back-to-back league games for 13 months and now matches looming against Ross County, Motherwell and Dundee will decide their fate.
“We didn’t have any flow to our play and our levels were below last week against Hamilton,” said Archibald.
“But the lads kept going and showed huge spirit.”