BY ALAN TEMPLE – @CCP_Sport
St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright admits the McDiarmid Park turf badly affected their 1-1 stalemate against Dundee after Michael O’Halloran remarkably described their own surface as “disgusting”.
The gifted winger, who set up the Saints’ equaliser on the night for David Wotherspoon, made his brutal assessment during his post-match interview on BT Sport, with rain and wind clearly taking its toll during a poor second period.
And Wright acknowledged that conditions shaped the encounter as the local rivals played out a feisty 1-1 draw.
“They were horrendous conditions, particularly in the first half,” said Wright. “But I am disappointed with the way we started in the game, we really let them get a foothold.
“We had a good spell in the first half and then it was a real end to end contest. The game sort of fizzled out after half-time because of the pitch, and the amount of rain on it.
”It cut up a bit and both teams struggled to get any quality play.”
Despite seeing their winning run come to a halt at five, St Johnstone extended their unbeaten run and move to within two points of third-placed Aberdeen.
“The resilience is the positive we can take from the game,” added Wright. “Because there is nothing positive about falling behind so early.
“We need to start the game better at home but we have showed character to come back, score a really good goal through David, and the unbeaten run keeps going.”
Pleasing
Kane Hemmings opened the scoring before Saints hit back and the stalemate was Dundee’s fourth consecutive draw, albeit enough to send them into the top six.
Hartley said: “We are not too far away and we are good at drawing! That’s eight we have had now, but we are not losing games and we have proved we have good players and a good work ethic.
“That last two draws have been really pleasing. We went to Tynecastle when Hearts were the form team in the division, we have come to McDiarmid Park when St Johnstone are the form team and we haven’t lost.
“It shows we are hard to play against and fight to the end and, on a tricky pitch, we fought to the end.”
