St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright has confirmed the Perth club’s interest in Dundee midfielder Paul McGowan.
Courier Sport revealed yesterday that the 30-year-old is a summer transfer target of Wright’s and the Perth boss has revealed that they have now made it “official” with their Tayside rivals.
He said: “We have put an official request in to speak to Paul.”
Meanwhile, not for the first time, Wright has stressed that post-match criticism of his side has been over the top.
Hibs manager Neil Lennon felt that Blair Alston should have been sent off on Friday night but Wright said: “Lenny has a right to complain about Blair’s tackle because it could have been a red but generally those ones are a yellow.
“It was cynical, nobody can deny that, but there has to be a balance.
“There were tackles from both sides so for us to be made out to be the more physical of the two teams wasn’t really true.
“John McGinn admitted himself he did a similar cynical one a wee while later.
“It was unfair to hammer Blair and say he should have been sent off for the other one because the television pictures clearly showed John kicked the turf and tripped up.
“Overall, it was a hard-fought game between two sides committed to winning points for their club.
“Lenny has to look after his team and I have to look after mine.
“We had a good chat after the game and I’ll no doubt speak to him during the week as well.”
Wright has described Richard Foster’s rapid recovery from a hamstring injury as “amazing”.
“Richard has been making great progress and he could be back by the end of the month,” he said.
“All the reports we got from the specialists were that he’d be out until the end of the season but some people are just quick healers.
“It looks like he is one of them. He’s doing really well and is amazing us.
“Hopefully things keep going the way they are and he’ll play again fairly soon.”
Wright added: “The other injured ones are also increasing their workload but right now Richard looks like being the one who will be back first.
“David McMillan’s injury is a frustrating one. The location of it has made it very difficult to treat.
“It’s right between his tendon and his hamstring so it’s problematic.
“But he is working really hard to get back and is set to increase his workload this week.”
* Today’s development League game against Motherwell has been switched to New Central Park in Kelty with a 2pm kick off.
