Davidson: loss of senior pros will be test of Saints’ squad strength

Midfielder admits Saints’ squad strength is being tested to its limits after loss to Celtic

St Johnstone pride themselves on their strength in depth these days, and rightly so.

But Murray Davidson admitted that depth is being tested to its limits.

Steven Anderson was the latest senior pro to be sidelined on Saturday, after he picked up a hip injury in training at the end of the week.

The experienced defender’s influence was undoubtedly missed in the 4-2 defeat to Celtic.

Davidson is hoping that Anderson and other absent team-mates will soon be back to fitness.

“Today in the dressing room there were six or seven boys not playing who have played a lot of games,” he said.

“There were the likes of Tam Scobbie, Keith Watson, Ando, Chris Millar and Michael Coulson.

“We have got a big squad but in certain areas we’re down to the bare bones, so we could do with a couple of them back. The quicker they get back the better we’ll be for it.”

Saturday’s opponents were extremely impressive, especially in a first half that yielded goals from Leigh Griffiths, Scott Sinclair and James Forrest, but Davidson believes the Perth side did not help their own cause.

“First of all Celtic’s movement against us was very good,” the former Livingston man said.

“They had more of the ball and we were disappointed with the way we kept turning it over. But even with all the possession they had they didn’t cut us open and the three goals from our point of view were preventable. That’s the way I saw it.

“Celtic were obviously very good but in the first half we had to get a little bit tighter, then because we were doing so much running when we did get the ball back it was extremely difficult to keep it. I felt Celtic in the final third were very good.”

As good a Celtic team as Davidson has played against?

“Certainly in the last couple of years,” he said. “Offensively their movement and passing was very good. Over a season I think Celtic will be too strong but you never know.”

The first half was a pretty one-sided contest. For Griffiths’ opener debutant Richard Foster was exposed at rightback. The second goal was harsh on Alan Mannus, who had pulled off a superb double save to deny Forrest and Griffiths only to see Sinclair smash the third past him. And for 3-0 Brad McKay was far too easily brushed aside by Griffiths on the half-way line before Forrest ran in on goal.

Tom Rogic struck the bar after the restart but the tide was held back by a combination of Saints getting their act together and Celtic settling for what they had (Griffiths was brought off after 55 minutes).

Danny Swanson scored from the spot with a late goal, and Steven MacLean got on the end of a Swanson cross for an even later one.

But as improbable a draw as you would ever see didn’t materialise as Ryan Christie made it four in stoppage time.

The good news for Saints was they had started to look more like their old selves by the end of the match.

“At 3-0 and then when they hit the bar at the start of the second half, you’re up against it,” Davidson said.

“We have a lot of characters and we did well to get in the game and at 3-2 it was the first time Celtic looked a little rattled, but we’d obviously given ourselves too much to do.

“It was pleasing we managed to come back, we showed character.

“We’ve had a positive start to the season and I don’t think we’ll be judged this year on what we do against Celtic. So we’ll regroup now and have a massive game coming up (at Inverness).”

Tommy Wright reported that “we don’t really know” whether Anderson’s hip injury is serious.

He noted: “We’ll let it settle down over the weekend and we’ll have a better picture on Monday.”

Wright described Brendan Rodgers’ men as “magnificent” but that didn’t stop him highlighting his own side’s failings.

“There is no doubt Celtic were excellent, particularly first half,” he said.

“I will watch it back but I know we deserved to be behind at half-time and we contributed to that. The three goals, I don’t have to watch back, all were poor goals from our point of view.

“We gave the ball away cheaply on the halfway line, we don’t win the second ball in midfield, something we are brilliant at, and the third goal ... we should deal with the problem on the halfway line and we don’t.

“That’s not taking away anything from Celtic, they were magnificent. But from my point of view, the three goals we conceded were poor.

“We showed character in the second half and were better and if we had maybe a bit more time we might have pulled off an unbelievable result.”

Rodgers knew all about the reputation Saints have built in the last few years and was rightly thrilled with his team’s performance, sandwiched as it was between two Champions League group stage qualifiers.

He said: “I thought 99.9% of that game we were outstanding. I don’t think the scoreline reflected the game if I am honest.

“We got four today and we maybe could have got another four, which is a huge compliment to the players because this is a team that has done really well under Tommy Wright.”