Two of the most important days of the season are coming up for St Johnstone, and there won’t be as much as a single SPL point at stake.
The January transfer window closes on Tuesday night and if the Perth side can make it through to Wednesday with their current squad intact then club captain Jody Morris believes they’ll be well set for the run-in.
After a month of speculation linking leading goalscorer Fran Sandaza with a move out of McDiarmid Park, it would be no surprise if there are late bids lodged. Nor would it be the biggest shock ever if as rumoured former Saints boss Derek McInnes tried to lure Morris back down south.
However, if both stay for the remainder of the campaign Saints proved at Motherwell on Saturday that they’re a match for the current third best team in Scotland.
So, with the same players at the disposal of manager Steve Lomas, they would have every right to expect to be battling it out with the Steelmen for that league position.
”In the January window a lot of business can be done late on” said Morris. ”Fran seems to be sticking to his guns by turning down Rangers, so unless he knows someone else is coming in it looks like he’s happy with us. Maybe he thinks that if he’s scoring goals here he might have better options in the summer. Fair play to him, and we’ll see.
”If he can keep doing what he’s doing I’m sure there will be an array of clubs for him to choose from. It’s a private matter for him. As a team-mate you don’t want to be bugging a player, saying: ‘Where are you going or what are you doing?’ I know what I read in the papers or see on the television.
”If we can keep hold of the squad we’ve got then that will stand us in good stead to finish as high as possible. I always watch Sky Sports on the last day of the window and sometimes it can be bananas. You never know what might happen, whether it will affect us or benefit us.”
On his link with Bristol, Morris added: ”I don’t know anything about that. As I said, you never know what might happen in January, but it’s not like I’m sitting here like Fran with an offer on the table. If there’s an offer it will be addressed but there’s nothing, so there’s no point talking about it.”
Saturday’s match was a real topsy-turvy encounter. Midway through the first half, Saints were in danger of being swept away by a team who looked in the mood to inflict a second comprehensive defeat of the season on them.
Short-term signing Henrik Ojamaa looks to be the bargain of the transfer window, and he gave Enckelman no chance with a low finish 22 minutes in.
Moments later Steven Hammell followed with a 25-yarder that skimmed the crossbar and a second from the hosts looked far more likely than a Perth equaliser.
But, towards the end of the half, they turned the tide and Liam Craig rattled the bar with a free-kick. Then on the stroke of half-time Morris started a move in midfield which he finished off himself by lashing an unstoppable left-foot volley into the top corner. A definite goal of the season contender.
Ironically given the way the first period had panned out Motherwell regained the lead after 65 minutes when Saints were well on top. Again, it was a clinical Ojamaa strike.
It was made 3-1 when a Keith Lasley shot from distance deflected over Enckelman, but Saints threatened a comeback when Murray Davidson was shoved in the box and Sandaza converted the subsequent penalty with 10 minutes still to play.
There were two goals that will stick in Morris’s mind, but for different reasons.
Continued…
He explained: ”I don’t get many, so there aren’t a lot of goals to compare mine to. You catch them well sometimes and they end up going in. I actually had a better chance a few minutes earlier when I was about five yards wide. I slipped for their second goal.
”Coming out on to the pitch I can remember saying to Callum Davidson ‘Watch out on the far side’ because it was slippy. Then lo and behold I go into the left-back slot and slip! Those things happen, unfortunately. I’d like to think that if I hadn’t slipped I’d have been closer to him to put him under pressure for his shot.”
He added: ”They were the better team in the first half but we went 2-1 down against the run of play. We carried on fighting even when we lost a third and it’s just a shame that we couldn’t get the equaliser. Overall, I think we can consider ourselves unlucky to come away with a defeat. We should have got at least a point.
”The manager has said in the dressing room that our heads shouldn’t be down about it, but sometimes they’re the defeats that are the hardest ones to take.”
One of the Motherwell goalscorers, Lasley, was full of praise for the Perth men.
He said: ”As far as St Johnstone are concerned, I think they’ll be there right to the end. They’ve got the squad to do it. You can see that by the players they were able to bring off the bench at the end.
”They had a bad start to the season, so the run they’ve had since then is incredible. I can see them keeping that up. You certainly have to play well to beat them.”
Saints boss Lomas felt his team deserved better than they got in Lanarkshire.
”We made a tactical change after 30 minutes because Motherwell were dominating the ball in midfield, and it worked,” the Northern Irishman pointed out. ”I thought we put them under pressure after that and totally dominated the match in the second half.
”Jody slipped for their second and the third took a deflection, but the lads kept going and it was one way traffic at the end. But that’s football. You have to score when you’re on top.
”It’s a credit to our boys that we took the game to them and that Motherwell were playing on the counter attack. You always say that you want a performance and the result will look after itself, but I didn’t think that happened today. In terms of chances we can consider ourselves mightily unlucky. The boys are disappointed but they can be proud of their performance.”
His opposite number, as you might expect, had a different take on the match.
Stuart McCall reflected: ”Overall I felt we edged it in a really good encounter. When you look at St Johnstone you can see that, with Sandaza, Haber and Sheridan, they’ve added what they were missing last year a goal threat. And they’re a big experienced side, so that’s a really good three points for us.”
Photo by Lynne Cameron/PA Archive