St Johnstone are up and running as a game-winning team in the Premiership.
But playmaker, Graham Carey, believes the Perth side are nowhere near fulfilling their potential yet.
Saints’ first victory of the league season has lifted a dark cloud from McDiarmid Park in the wake of a Paisley implosion and manager Steven MacLean’s sacking.
Ensuring that it stays away – and they start moving up the table – is the next objective.
“We haven’t even scratched the surface,” said Carey, back in the side against Kilmarnock on Wednesday night after missing the 4-0 defeat to St Mirren.
“We have a lot of quality players in the team. There’s a lot of improvement to come.
“For one reason or another we’ve been short of confidence and not clinical in both boxes.
“There are a lot of positives to build on but we still need to cut out mistakes.
“A new manager will have seen a lot of character and a lot of fight.
“The quicker we get a manager in, the quicker we can build towards the next game.
“If that doesn’t happen, we have enough characters in the dressing room and the staff here are brilliant.”
True words
According to Carey, MacLean’s post-St Mirren “chucked it” blast was warranted and it helped inspire the midweek victory.
“I think his words were true,” said the former Plymouth Argyle and CSKA Sofia man.
“I was ill and wasn’t there on Saturday but he was obviously disappointed in the manner of the defeat.
“The manager has the right to call out players if he feels that is right.
“Everyone in the dressing room will tell you it wasn’t good enough at the weekend.
“I don’t think it was harsh. They were true words.
“I think on Wednesday we showed that he was right at the weekend.
“The reaction was partly down to him and his comments after the game.
“Hopefully we did him proud.”
Carey added: “The players had a great relationship with Steven and Liam (Craig).
“We felt as a group that we let them down at the start of the season.
“There was a bit of nervous energy before the game, not knowing what was going to happen.
“But we channelled it in the right way in the first 10 minutes and started really well.
“There was a bit of nervousness around the ground in the second half because we hadn’t won this season.
“We needed to put our bodies on the line.
“If we had thrown that away, there would’ve been a lot of questions asked about the character in the dressing room. Nobody wanted that.”
Clark the focal point
Carey started started off the move for Saints’ first goal and dropped a cross on the head of Nicky Clark for the second.
Having the ex-Dundee United centre-forward in the starting line-up has added a much-needed extra dimension to the team’s attack.
“We put a lot of crosses in the box in the last few games and didn’t get on the end of them,” he said.
“Nicky has been a big miss for us and he showed on Wednesday why he is very important.
Pinpoint delivery from Graham Carey 🤩
Superb finish from Nicky Clark 🔥#SJFC | @nickyclark91 pic.twitter.com/sfbSxDaQ9k— St. Johnstone FC (@StJohnstone) November 2, 2023
“If you give him service, he will score goals.
“It’s great to see him back and great to see Chris Kane starting too.
“We want our wing-backs to get forward but they can’t really do that if you don’t hold the ball up.
“We have had runners in behind this season but not really a focal point holding the ball up and slowing the game down so our wing-backs can get higher up the pitch to put crosses in.”
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