Tommy Wright relieved as Hamilton defeat gives St Johnstone breathing room

Posted Thursday, March 29, 2018 by PA

St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright is confident a scrappy 1-0 win over Hamilton has given his side breathing space in the battle against relegation from the Ladbrokes Premiership.

Scott McMann scored an early own goal after Liam Craig flicked on a Blair Alston corner and that proved enough to send Saints seventh in the table.

The result means the home side are now 12 points clear of Partick Thistle and 15 ahead of Ross County with just two games to go before the split, and Wright is confident his side are now safe after a brief flirt with the danger zone.

“I think it does (give breathing space),” he said. “I think it’s difficult for the teams below us – there’s now five below us – and with everybody playing each other as well.

“Thirty-seven points, you’d be unlucky to be dragged into it with 37 points and we will get more points than that.

“We are on a bit of a run now and hopefully we can pick up and finish the season strongly because we want to finish as high as possible.”

The narrow win made it seven points from a possible nine for St Johnstone after they looked to be heading for a relegation scrap after losing to Kilmarnock, but they were still far from their best against Accies at McDiarmid Park.

Hamilton were not at the races in the first period, but picked up after the break and could have grabbed a point but for a string of saves from Alan Mannus, which left boss Martin Canning ruing his side’s sloppy first half.

He said: “(In the) first half we didn’t do well enough. (In the) second half we were better and we had a few chances and probably should have taken at least one of them and we take something from the game if we do.

“(In the) first half we didn’t do enough which was frustrating because it was a big opportunity tonight to put three points on the board.

“Our mentality has got to be the same in a game that allows you to look up the league, as opposed to getting our best results with our backs against the wall.”