After declaring himself fit, Davidson leaves Wright sick
ST JOHNSTONE boss Tommy Wright last night hit out at midfielder Murray Davidson for reporting himself fit after illness — and then being unable to get through the 90 minutes against Hibernian.
Davidson had to be replaced by Liam Craig at the half-time interval after pre-match uncertainty about his availability. Wright was left unhappy at having to rip up his game plan with the contest balanced at 0-0.
Craig would go on to set up Michael O’Halloran for his fifth goal in as many games in the 1-1 draw at McDiarmid Park, but Wright insisted that does not change the way he feels about Davidson’s actions.
‘He said he was fit,’ stated Wright. ‘He’d said he was ill and then said he was fit. I’m not happy he’s had to go off after 45 minutes.
‘You can’t tell your manager you’re fit and then have to come off after 45 minutes. I’ve had to make an enforced substitution and I’m not pleased about that.
‘It worked out all right, but you waste a sub on someone.
‘He was unwell. But when a player says he’s all right to play, the responsibility lies with the player.’
Davidson was taken off with concussion after eight minutes of St Johnstone’s draw with Celtic at Parkhead on August 26, but Wright insists the incidents are not related.
‘Last week’s different. That’s an accident,’ he said.
‘But if he declares himself fit, he should be able to go and do the 90 minutes. There’s a couple of things I wasn’t happy about today. But we’re still unbeaten.’
Saints started brightly, but they were hanging on by the skin of their teeth at the end.
‘I’m happy to get a point, not happy with the performance,’ said Wright.
‘We started like a house on fire, looked like a real threat and then struggled for the rest of the game, in retaining the ball, in decision-making.
‘We got a decent goal, but we were too deep and didn’t do our job at times. We have to look at how poorly we played and improve on that.
‘But as I’ve just said to them in there, there’s not many teams in the league that would get a point out of that.
‘They showed character and defended well, which was because we gave them too many opportunities.’