St Johnstone have been given a timely boost ahead of Saturday’s Tayside derby with the news that striker Michael O’Halloran has been handed a contract extension.
The 23-year-old signed for Saints in January on an initial 18-month deal but has now triggered a clause to prolong his stay with the Perth club for a further season after making 16 appearances this term.
That means he should be at McDiarmid Park until the end of the 2015-16 campaign, and boss Tommy Wright is understandably delighted to have O’Halloran at his disposal moving forward.
The striker showed signs of what he can do with two excellently taken goals in the 2-1 win over Motherwell a week ago, and Wright hopes his hitman can continue in that vein of form.
“We were delighted with Michael last week, and the way his contract was set up there was a trigger point for an extension from both parties and he’s reached that number of games,” he said.
“So he automatically is here for another year now, so I’m delighted. Hopefully, Friday will give him a bit of confidence and he can kick on, because I think there are goals in him.
“He’s scored a couple last year and has scored three now this season, and he’s a relatively young player that I think will continue to improve.
O’Halloran’s brace last week took his total for the season to three, and Wright is convinced his confidence can only build from here on in.
“He gets frustrated,” Wright said. “People say he’s a typical wide player but we need to get him the ball.
“When he gets it and he’s positive, he does cause people problems and he needs to bring a wee bit more composure into his game.
“If you look at his second goal against Motherwell, he showed great composure and he can do that he does that in training.
“That’s the sort of thing I want to see him do more of. I just feel that we want to give him more confidence and the confidence to go and play his football.
“He’s so eager to do well I think he puts himself under pressure at times if things don’t go right,” Wright continued.
“He’s worked on that, he’s dealing with that, and I think Friday night was a good example because he made a wee mistake for their goal but came back and scored two goals.”
* Former St Johnstone manager Steve Lomas has applied for the vacancy at Motherwell caused by the resignation of Stuart McCall.