Cummins at the double for Saints after Accies miss out big time
ST JOHNSTONE recorded five consecutive away wins for the first time since 1996, blowing Hamilton away after weathering an early storm at New Douglas Park.
A double from Graham Cummins allied to strikes from David Wotherspoon and Michael O’Halloran enabled the Perth side to leapfrog Accies and Ross County into fourth place.
Two late goals from Jesus Garcia Tena were scant consolation for the hosts, who were made to pay a heavy price after spurning a string of opportunities during the opening period.
Cummins’ brace either side of half-time changed the complexion of the match although the Irish striker only started because Steven MacLean can’t play on astroturf.
He admitted he didn’t expect a transformation after such a dismal start to proceedings.
‘I didn’t see that result coming,’ said Cummins. ‘I don’t think anyone in the stadium could have predicted that scoreline after 35 minutes.
‘I thought Hamilton were the better team but we dug in and the goal just before half-time helped.
‘We knew going out for the second half we couldn’t play any worse than we did in the first.
‘To score four goals away from home without your top scorer is very impressive.’
Saints manager Tommy Wright was also delighted to maintain their excellent away record, which again characterised the spirit within his camp.
‘It is a good record,’ he said. ‘I think that is also eight wins from 11. But we won’t predict where we will finish as we know this is a difficult league.’
Hamilton were left kicking themselves after failing to make their initial superiority count.
Twice in the first 10 minutes they passed up glorious chances to break the deadlock. Gramoz
Kurtaj dragged a shot into the side-netting and then Christian Nade fired straight at goalkeeper Alan Mannus from close range.
In the 22nd minute, Mannus was again called upon, diving to his right to palm away a dipping Jesus Garcia Tena free-kick.
The Saints goal was under constant siege and it took further heroics from the visiting keeper to prevent a speculative Nade effort dipping under the crossbar.
With onlooking Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill here to run the rule over both goalkeepers, the timing of Mannus’ impressive display couldn’t have been much better.
Incredibly, and to the disbelief of the home support, it was St Johnstone who eventually opened the scoring five minutes before the interval.
Having soaked up Accies pressure from the start, the Perth men proceeded to catch them cold with a stunning counter-attacking goal.
Darnell Fisher started the move in the centre circle, quickly feeding O’Halloran, who sprinted inside before picking out Brian Easton with a clever reverse pass.
Without breaking stride, the overlapping full-back despatched a pinpoint cross which was expertly headed home by Cummins.
Four minutes after the restart, Wright’s men doubled their advantage.
Cummins reacted quickest to slam home the rebound after Michael McGovern had pulled off a fantastic save to deny O’Halloran.
It was a truly remarkable turnaround, but Saints were far from finished.
In 63 minutes, they made it 3-0 when Wotherspoon thundered a shot past McGovern after the keeper had flapped at a Liam Craig cross.
Amazingly, three quickly became four when the impressive O’Halloran further enhanced his hopes of a Scotland call-up, leaving Martin Canning floundering before finding the bottom corner of the net from the edge of the penalty box.
With the game already out of their reach, Garcia Tena grabbed two late set-piece consolation goals for brave Accies.
His first was a beautifully struck 20-yard free-kick and, in the final minute, he slotted home from the penalty spot after Murray Davidson was penalised for a foul in the box.
It was a performance player-manager Canning, starting a match for the first time since being sent off against the same opponents seven months ago, was keen to forget.
He said: ‘We controlled the first half but found ourselves behind.
‘I felt good to be back playing, but it is disappointing to be part of a team that loses four goals.’