St Johnstone’s excellent October wasn’t enough to get Tommy Wright the manager of the month award.
On one hand, striker Steven MacLean believes the decision to overlook the Perth boss and give it to Celtic’s Ronny Deila was “harsh”.
But on the other hand, out of the spotlight is exactly where Saints like to be.
“Look at the resources Ronny Deila and our gaffer have at their disposal,” MacLean pointed out. “It is night and day really.
“I’m not saying Ronny hasn’t done a good job because he won every league game.
“But overall I think it was a bit harsh on our gaffer missing out on the award.
“We went up to Aberdeen and won 5-1 when they were top of the table and followed it up with wins away to Inverness, Morton and Hamilton. We have clocked up five away wins on the bounce.
“Maybe the home defeat from Partick cost him the award.
“But we won’t complain too much because we like being under the radar. That’s the way we like it here. It has worked for us in recent seasons. We just get on with our own business.”
MacLean is now getting accustomed to sitting out matches on artificial pitches Saturday’s win at Hamilton being the latest but that doesn’t mean it’s getting any easier to take.
“It is always frustrating to miss any game but knowing you are fit makes it even worse missing out,” he explained. “But the astro is too big a risk. It’s for the best but I am still trying to get my head round it.
“I just have to deal with it. But the lads got a great result at Hamilton.”
Graham Cummins has worked well in partnership with MacLean, but the Accies win proved he could thrive without him as well.
The former Aberdeen and Sheffield Wednesday man, who hopes to be back beside Cummins against Kilmarnock tomorrow, said: “Graham has sometimes played a bit off the left but he was up front and scored two goals.
“I know we do our homework on teams so I don’t think Graham is an unknown quantity to opposition sides.
“I would imagine teams have been trying to suss us out, like we do with them.
“But Graham has been superb all season and we both think we could have had a few more goals each.
“I am just going along looking to pick up more goals and hoping it helps the team. But right now I am just hoping I start against Kilmarnock after missing out last week.”
Meanwhile, Saints now know the three clubs they could be paired with in Monday’s League Cup semi-final draw Celtic, Ross County and Hibs.
MacLean was honest about his own preferences.
“I think anybody apart from Celtic,” he admitted.
“I’m not going to sit here and say ‘I’m not bothered who we get’.
“I’d rather not draw Celtic. All three would be tough games Hibs are flying and Ross County are a strong team as well – but I’m not going to lie.
“That semi-final is miles away though, and the focus is on Kilmarnock this weekend.”