By Eric Nicolson

ON AN afternoon in which Gretna showed why they are the shortest priced favourites for the first division title in memory by thrashing Hamilton with six unanswered goals, the marker that St Johnstone put down on day one against Clyde for the season ahead carried far less menace.

The Perth side had been hoping to make a statement of intent at McDiarmid Park on Saturday and show the sort of home form which a promotion campaign could be built upon.

Nine draws at their own ground cost Saints the title last season and after opening this term with a 0-0 stalemate, Owen Coyle’s men know they can’t afford a repetition this time around.

Allan McManus revealed that Coyle has already told the players of the importance of turning one point into three.

The former Airdrie defender, who made his competitive debut at the weekend, said, “The gaffer has spoken about that to us because it happened last year, I understand.

“It’s up to us to make draws wins—especially at home—if we’re going to challenge for the title.

“There’s no point in us worrying about Gretna or any other team this early in the season. But we know that if we have aspirations to win the league, we’ll have to step up the standard that we showed today.”

That being the case, McManus still felt Saints had done enough against Clyde to merit a win.

“I think we deserved it,” he said. “They started better but in the second half it was one-way traffic. We coped with what they had to throw at us and, from a personal point of view, it was good to get a clean sheet, but frustrating not to get a win.”

It was a makeshift three-man Saints central defence on Saturday, with coach Jim Weir making his first appearance in two years to deputise for the suspended Kevin Rutkiewicz.

The Perth rearguard was guilty of yielding two simple first-half chances, first to Stephen O’Donnell and secondly to Craig Bryson. Both, however, failed to trouble Bryn Halliwell.

Saints, too, had their opportunities in the first period, the best of which fell to Jason Scotland, but he headed straight at Peter Cherrie from six yards out.

Clyde seemed content with a point as the match drew on and Andy Lawrie hit the outside of the post on 69 minutes.

Coyle felt the afternoon was summed up in stoppage time. The same man elected to pass when he could see the whites of Cherrie’s eyes and a glorious chance to send the Saints fans home happy was gone.

The Perth boss said, “After a sluggish start we had a spell with waves of attacks and missed a couple of sitters and in the second half it was waves of attacks again.

“If you gave Andy (Lawrie) that chance another 50 times he wouldn’t have passed. He was eight yards out, one on one with the goalkeeper.”

Derek Young made a second-half appearance as a trialist, looking impressive. He has agreed to sign a month-long deal in an effort to prove his fitness.

Coyle added, “There’s no doubting his ability, as everybody could see today. He had his injury troubles at Dunfermline and we have to make sure he’s fully fit. We’ll assess this over the month and take it from there.”

Clyde caretaker boss Joe Miller, who is still waiting to be confirmed as Graham Roberts’ successor, praised his young team for “throwing their bodies in front of everything” as Saints pressed for a winner.