Kerr’s late Fir Park winner kick-started Saints revival

Now defender says he’s determined ’Well won’t end their record run

Jason Kerr’s stoppage-time header at Motherwell sparked what has become a stunning eight-game unbeaten run for St Johnstone.

And the Perth centre-back is determined to make sure that it doesn’t come to an end against the same team at McDiarmid Park this afternoon.

“Our great run started against Motherwell after two bad defeats from the Old Firm and a loss to Hearts,” he recalled.

“We have remained unbeaten since then and that’s a good stat for us.

“Obviously the boys are happy to get so many clean sheets and plenty of wins. We want to keep it going.

“I have been looking back on my late goal which started this great run we have been on. The manager told us after the Celtic game we had to do everything better.

“So against Motherwell the priority was keeping a clean sheet, knowing we would always get a chance of scoring.

“Getting that winner in the 92nd minute made things even better.

“It really lifted the changing room and got us going. The manager always says if we can keep teams out then he is confident we will score.”

All sorts of records have cropped up in the last few weeks and Saints will equal a top flight undefeated one if they don’t lose this afternoon.

“There’s been a lot of talk about breaking records but the players haven’t been thinking about that,” said Kerr.

“Mind you, Zander (Clark) was miserable when we finally conceded a goal against Hearts because he wants to break as many records as he can.

“We could have lost that game if we hadn’t got the dubious penalty. But we kept the run going.”

Kerr’s recent form has been outstanding and the former Scotland under-21 international name-checked two individuals who have played a big part in his development.

“One of the biggest influences on me has been Gary Naysmith,” he said.

“He was player/manager at East Fife when I first went out on loan. Then he was in charge at Queen of the South when I was there.

“At East Fife he was also playing beside me and he taught me so much.

“Gary has helped me so much in my career and I can only thank him for that.

“Joe (Shaughnessy) has also been massive for me. He will tell you himself he has also been improving as a player.

“He played every minute of last season and took over as captain this time round.

“Playing beside him has been good for me and hopefully we can keep the partnership going.”

The Kerr-Shaughnessy partnership in the middle of defence has been rock solid for Tommy Wright’s side but with Steven Anderson and Liam Gordon waiting in the wings, centre-back is not a position that can be taken for granted.

“We know guys like Ando and Liam Gordon are waiting for their chance,” said Kerr.

“Liam has never had a bad game when he has come in.

“He has been unlucky we have so many good defenders here and he has also had a few injuries to deal with.

“We know we have to keep our heads on a swivel because there are decent centre-halves looking to take our place if we have a bad game or two.”

Saints are ready for the physical challenge likely to come their way today.

“Motherwell are the most direct team in the league,” said Kerr.

“They like putting the ball up to the strikers like Curtis Main and Ryan Bowman.

“You expect to have a battle against them and look to win second balls as well. We know what we are going up against.

“But we did well against them to start this run and hopefully we can do it again to keep it going with three points and another clean sheet.”

Wright confirmed that both Anderson and Danny Swanson are available and Drey Wright’s knee has now been operated on.

“Drey had his operation yesterday,” he said. “It went well and he’s actually able to walk about. The surgeon says he can put weight on it and that’s the start of the process.”

On today’s game, Wright noted: “They’ve had good draws against Celtic and Rangers. What Stephen (Robinson) will be looking for is a more consistent level of performance.

“They get the ball into your half early which can sometimes be really difficult to play against.

“We can look after ourselves and we’ve got to deal with that. If everybody played the same way it would be a boring league. It’s a different set of questions.”

Well manager Robinson meanwhile hopes the return of Charles Dunne can help them discover some elusive consistency.

Dunne played only his second Ladbrokes Premiership game of the season last weekend after being struck by two separate groin injuries.

The left-sided defender was a key member of the team that kept a clubrecord 20 clean sheets last season but they have only managed six so far this term, half of them in the Betfred Cup.

Robinson lost Cedric Kipre on the eve of the season to Wigan after Dunne’s injury and has chopped and changed his back three in recent weeks because of injury and suspension.

But with Dunne back and Peter Hartley fit again for today’s trip to St Johnstone, Robinson can start to build from the back again.

“St Johnstone have done well to keep clean sheets and that’s the basis to build good performances and good results and climb the table,” said Robinson, whose team sit ninth in the table.

“In the games we haven’t conceded we have probably gone on and won the game, because defensively we are good, especially when we go 1-0 up.

“That’s our basis, it can’t be pretty, attractive football and total football - we don’t have the capability to do that for 90 minutes.