Saints freeze out Thistle to win first points of the year
ST JOHNSTONE emerged from cold storage to claim their first points since the turn of the year and enhanced their bid for another top-six finish.
Goals four minutes into each half from defensive lynchpins Dave Mackay and Steven Anderson saw off Partick Thistle.
After defeats from Aberdeen and Hamilton Accies on the back of an eight-game unbeaten sequence, McDiarmid Park manager Tommy Wright was delighted to get back on track.
He said: ‘It was good to get back to winning ways.
‘We were on a good run before losing the last two and expectation levels had risen after beating Inverness and Dundee United in the first of the festive fixtures.
‘It was important we bounced back and now we have to try to go on another run.
‘Sometimes you have to be patient against Partick because they have a lot of the ball but we probably deserved the win.’
While Dundee United’s match with Inverness Caley Thistle was called off, the McDiarmid Park undersoil heating ensured one game on Tayside beat the weather.
Saints warmed more quickly to the task and Mackay enjoyed the credit for a fourth-minute opener and his first league goal of the season when he was teed up by Steven MacLean.
But the Perth skipper looked a little sheepish with his celebrations after a speculative 20-yard strike took a wicked deflection off Daniel Seaborne and squirmed inside wrong-footed keeper Paul Gallacher’s left-hand post.
Mackay said: ‘It didn’t feel right celebrating a goal like that. I was surprised it went in. It was on target but it took a big deflection.’
Only a magnificent stretching save from Gallacher prevented Liam Caddis from doubling the hosts’ lead in the 14th minute.
The Saints youngster leapt to connect with Simon Lappin’s hanging cross from the left but was denied by Gallacher, turning back the years to claw the ball out of the top corner.
Thistle were denied an equaliser in the 19th-minute by the width of the crossbar when ex-Saint Ryan Stevenson tamed a miscued Stuart Bannigan corner, wheeled swiftly and took another touch before unleashing a venomous 16-yard strike.
Home boss Wright was forced into an early substitution when midfielder Chris Millar limped off to be replaced by teenager Scott Brown.
The Jags enjoyed plenty of possession but struggled to test Alan Mannus.
David Wotherspoon crafted the second goal with a teasing 49th-minute corner kick, which Steven Anderson finished with aplomb.
The defender’s near-post run stole a march on his marker and a glancing header swept into the corner, leaving Gallacher with no chance of halting its progress.
Thistle substitutes Kallum Higginbotham and Nathan Eccleston combined to dissect a resolute Perth defence in the 68th minute.
But having evaded onrushing keeper Mannus, Eccleston’s angled shot was prevented from finding the net by Brian Easton’s sliding connection and there was no way back for Thistle.