St Johnstone boss Callum Davidson hails performance in victory over Dundee

Posted Sunday, October 03, 2021 by PA

St Johnstone boss Callum Davidson was satisfied with his side’s dominant performance as they claimed a 3-1 cinch Premiership victory over rivals Dundee at McDiarmid Park.

A Chris Kane brace was the dream start from the home side, who netted within a nine-minute period in their aspiration to claim all three points, before Stevie May killed the game as a contest, 45 seconds after the restart.

Ryan Sweeney added a mere consolation but his goal ended a barren run of five games without a goal for the visitors, who remain bottom as a result.

Davidson’s side enjoyed a lot of joy on the right-hand flank, exposing Dundee at every opportunity, which in turn saw St Johnstone scoring all three goals from that specific side which included two assists from Michael O’Halloran, with the visitors struggling to contain his swift awareness and vision.

Davidson said: “I think some of the football, especially in the last 15 to 20 minutes of the first half was really good.

“I thought the first goal was superb. Shaun Rooney started the build-up finding O’Halloran before finding Chris Kane, who tucked away with a fantastic finish.

“Chris Kane is in the team to score goals and he did that today. I was delighted for him.

“We scored three really good goals which is a positive.

“Dundee were chasing the game in the latter stages which opened up more space for us and I was delighted that we killed the game off before half-time.

“Michael O’Halloran gives you a threat down the right side and it was great that we were able to expose Dundee down that side and we were proactive.

“I know he will come in and cause opposition defences problems and he did that all game, we have been attacking from the left in recent times through David Wotherspoon and Callum Booth so it’s great to see a change in transition.”

Dundee boss James McPake admitted that he felt sorry for fellow coaches Dave Mackay and Martin Hardie, who were in the dugout with McPake sitting a one-match ban following a sending off last weekend against Rangers.

He said: “I felt sorry for Dave, Martin and the coaching staff in what is the same old story.

“After the first goal went in we looked a beaten side afterwards.

“We have a lot to work on in the next fortnight with the aim of putting our predicament right.”