Delighted Wright says striker O’halloran has improved after his spell at Rangers

Tommy Wright insists St Johnstone have welcomed back an improved Michael O’halloran to the club.

Rangers signed O’halloran for £500,000 18 months ago with Mark Warburton at the helm but the attacker fell out of favour under Portuguese successor Pedro Caixinha and returned to St Johnstone on loan. And now, three goals in two games have caught the eye and back-to-back league wins have swept Wright’s men to the top of the table.

Wright, pictured, believed O’halloran would slip back into his old routine because he knows the club inside out. “That is one of the reasons I signed Michael,” he said. “There were maybe other options in England but there is always a question mark. The relationship I have with him and he has with the players and fans here meant it was a no-brainer. Michael has come back and I think he is even better. To score three goals already is an incredible start for him. I’m not 100 per cent happy with the performance because I thought we were too deep at times. We gave up too much territory. But it’s a good win and an important one.” Well boss Stephen Robinson said: “We dominated large parts of the game and that is credit to my boys after their extra-time win at Ross County in midweek. We have been superb in all three games [against Rangers, Ross County and St Johnstone]. We can’t change what the referee did [send off keeper Trevor Carson, skipper Carl Mchugh and defender Charles Dunne], we can’t change the result but we have to put it to bed and pick ourselves up.”