St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright refused to get carried away with his side’s start to the season after maintaining their winning run with a 1-0 victory over Partick Thistle.
Michael O’Halloran’s fourth goal of the season ensured Wright’s side remain level with Celtic at the top of the Ladbrokes Premiership with maximum points from their first three games ahead of next week’s fixture at Celtic Park.
The midfielder has hit the ground running after rejoining the club on loan from Rangers and has been pivotal to his side’s early-season form, but while Wright was delighted to keep their run going, he played down its significance.
He said: “It’s a fantastic start, but it is only a start.
“I look at it, it’s one point off 10 points where I want to be as quickly as possible and if you’d had said at the start of the season you’ll go into the international break with a top-of-the-table clash with Celtic, I’d have taken that.
“We go there with great confidence and as the last domestic team to be them.
“Who knows? Maybe we can cause a surprise and a major upset.”
The impressive O’Halloran was on target in the 33rd minute after drifting in from his left-wing position to find space inside the area, before being found by a precise through-ball from defender Steven Anderson and finishing into the far corner.
Saints survived a couple of penalty shouts in the second half, but held off Thistle to maintain their impressive start, and Wright was pleased with some of the football they played.
“We have to try and evolve as a team to try and give them more belief that we can have the ball at the back,” he said.
“We did try and start the game from the back a lot more today. Typically we only play one striker and he’s (Steven MacLean) not a big/strong striker, and I think you can see that what we tried to do worked.
“We created numerous opportunities first half and had the better opportunities second half as well and at 1-0, we probably should have won by more.”
Thistle boss Alan Archibald said: “I thought St Johnstone were the better side first half, they won the battle in the midfield area and we lost a poor, poor goal and that was a big disappointment.
“They were hard to break down after that.”
