Tommy Wright delighted as St Johnstone secure first win of season

Posted Sunday, October 27, 2019 by PA

St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright welcomed his first win of the Ladbrokes Premiership campaign as his side secured a late 3-2 victory over Hamilton.

Saints are still at the foot of the table but substitute Callum Hendry’s 89th-minute winner secured their first triumph in 10 games.

The Perth side were dominant and Wright maintained it would have been “a travesty” if Saints had not emerged on top.

A David Wotherspoon double overturned Mikel Miller’s early lead but Accies drew level six minutes from the end when Steven Davies converted a spot-kick after Murray Davidson’s handball.

“In terms of the performance the players did everything we asked of them,” said Wright. “It would have been a travesty if we hadn’t won that game because we dominated from start to finish.

“We hit the bar and the post, had so many shots and were camped in their half for long spells of the game. The win was fully deserved. We should have been out of sight long before Callum’s goal.

“They showed plenty of character, a team which hasn’t won a game in the league yet and you get to the stage when you lose a penalty right at the end, your concern is how they respond.

“But they responded magnificently. They went on the front foot again and got the winner they deserved.

“The disappointing thing for me is that the three should have been six or seven and the two they got should be zero because we gave away two soft goals.”

Frustrated Accies boss Brian Rice felt a point had been wrenched from his grasp with Hendry’s late intervention.

The Perth substitute pounced after former Saints defender Brian Easton lost his footing and Rice was critical of defensive lapses which proved costly.

“We lost poor goals. We work on things but all three of them were really poor,” Rice admitted. “Brian was very unlucky, he slips but the others were poor.

“We thought it was going to be 2-2 but you have to do your jobs and we didn’t do that, but we couldn’t see it out because of individual mistakes and I told the players that in the dressing room.

“If you score two away from home you should be getting something.”