MANAGER Tommy Wright claims St Johnstone have started the season in familiar territory – by not getting the credit they deserve.
Saints, who have finished in the Premiership top six for the last six seasons, kicked off their league campaign with a 2-1 win at Kilmarnock on Saturday, after winger Michael O’Halloran marked his return to the Perth club on loan from Rangers with a stunning late winner.
Ahead of the Betfred Cup last-16 tie with Partick Thistle at McDiarmid Park tonight, Wright was irked by media response to the game “in general” and to the perception of his side.
He said: “Being St Johnstone, they seem to be concentrating more on how poor the defending was instead of looking at how great the [O’Halloran] goal was. Maybe if it was a different colour shirt of there would be more made of it.
“It is a great goal. You can look at the defending all day long but to score that goal, on that surface, which isn’t a great surface, was incredible.
“And the David Wotherspoon goal was another good goal but, again, there seemed to be a lot of concentration on how poorly it was defended and not looking at the positives.
“It’s the ‘same old’ again. We don’t get the credit. Apparently we bought fouls and made the most fouls in the game, and that’s how we won the game.
“Listen, people rabbit on and they say things but, at the end of the day, we deserved to win the game. But I think there is a tendency to label us in a certain way. For 60 minutes we were very good with the ball. If their players are going to make fouls what is the referee supposed to do?
“We don’t buy fouls. But it is the same old: we win because we are streetwise not because we played well.
“They got back into the game by us giving away a stupid free-kick and Kris Boyd scored a great free-kick, then for 20 minutes they put long balls into the box.”
Fellow Premiership side Partick Thistle, who also made the top-six last season, will be familiar foes for the Saints this evening.
Wright added: “They had a great season last season. Obviously, this is a big season for them.
“We know how difficult it is to replicate top six. Alan Archibald has done a great job. We played them five or six times last season. We know each other well so it is going to be a tough game.”
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