Wright’s men finally foiled in hunt for super six
THE width of the woodwork denied St Johnstone an unprecedented sixth successive victory that would have demanded yet another update in the Perth club’s statistics.
But, with these top-six rivals evenly matched, Kilmarnock could point to a wonderful second-half save from Saints keeper Zander Clark that extended his remarkable shut-out sequence to half-a-dozen matches.
It’s now 546 minutes since Clark was l ast beaten – by Callum McGregor in last month’s 6-0 defeat to Celtic – providing further evidence for manager Tommy Wright’s claim that he is worthy of international consideration.
One-time Rugby Park winger Matty Kennedy crashed a spectacular 30-yard shot off the inside of the post in the closing minutes but Kilmarnock manager Steve Clarke felt a Saints winner would have been an injustice.
“I think we probably shaded it on balance of play, but we didn’t do enough in the final third, although their keeper made a hell of a save,” he said.
“We also had a decent shout for a penalty when it looked like Kris Boyd was wrestled to the ground.”
Rival manager Wright maintained a draw was a fair reflection of an evenly balanced contest, observing: “Our unbeaten run continues and it’s another clean sheet so I have to be happy.
“I thought my back four were excellent and centre- backs Joe Shaughnessy and Jason Kerr were rocks.”
While two well-drilled sides were cancelling each other out, Clarke was forced to reshuffle his back line minutes before the interval when Stuart Findlay pulled up with a groin injury, with Scott Boyd stepping into the central-defensive role.
Restored striker Greg Stewart survived an injury scare of his own to create an opening for Kirk Broadfoot, but the Ayrshire defender was unable to trouble Clark with a header lacking power.
With the hour mark approaching, Northern Ireland winger Jordan Jones was introduced to inject pace on the visitors’ left flank, with Mikael Ndjoli making way.
Finally, a clear-cut opening fell to Saints attacker Kennedy but he swiped at Shaughnessy’s flick into the danger zone and sent his shot flying over the crossbar from 10 yards.
In the 61st minute, Clark brilliantly thwarted Stewart’s teasing effort with a flying one-handed save before Saints full-back Scott Tanser had Killie worried with a venomous 25-yard strike that inched past the target.
Rival attackers Boyd and Chris Kane both claimed for spot-kicks within the space of 60 seconds but referee Willie Collum wasn’t convinced by either plea.
Deep in stoppage time, danger man Stewart again came close for Killie but his shot curled agonisingly wide of the target.