St Johnstone assistant manager Tommy Wright insists Saturday’s visit to Ross County is a more daunting prospect than last weekend’s match against Celtic.
Saints stunned the defending SPL champions, winning 2-1 to take all three points from the McDiarmid Park clash and former Northern Ireland goalkeeper Wright believes the result will have boosted the Perth players’ confidence levels.
However, he is understandably wary about the trip to Dingwall against Derek Adams’ side, who extended their incredible unbeaten league run to 40 games when they drew against Dundee United last Friday.
Wright said: ”We aren’t going to get carried away with the win against Celtic. It was probably a result people didn’t expect but overall, I feel we deserved to get something out of the game.
”I think the most pleasing thing was that we recovered from going a goal down so early. So the lads deserve great credit for sticking at it and the fans really got behind us as well which helped.
”We now probably have a more difficult game away against Ross County this weekend. If we don’t win that, then we will still be down at the wrong end of the table.
”County are on an incredible run and I watched them last Friday night against Dundee United. They are as hard-working a team as I have seen.
”They get a lot of men behind the ball and can counter-attack on you. They are well organised and drilled and are a team that seem to know what they are doing.
”They have been together a long time and have all had success which breeds confidence. They have come into the SPL and have continued the form they had in the First Division.
”So, it will definitely be a tough game. But the Celtic result gives us an opportunity to go to Dingwall to try to get us a win to move us right up the table.”
St Johnstone’s victory over the Hoops was their first in a competitive fixture stretching back to March last season, a statistic that Wright admitted had begun to irk him and manager Steve Lomas.
He added: ”People kept throwing in the fact that we hadn’t won since last season. But we judge the last campaign on where we finished. We were sixth in the league and made it into Europe, then you move on to the next season.
”But all of a sudden, because we hadn’t started well this term, people began saying it is a 14-game run.
”Stats can be used whichever way you want but the most important stats for last season are that St Johnstone finished sixth and got into Europe.
”Steve and myself have never lost faith in the players and hopefully Saturday’s result will give them a bit more belief.
”They didn’t become bad players overnight just because a few results hadn’t gone their way. It was important for us to stay calm.”
Saints strikers Rowan Vine and Gregory Tade were the men who scored the two goals against Celtic at the weekend, their first league counters for the club and Wright believes hitting the back of the net will do the Frenchman in particular a power of good.
He said: ”Viney doesn’t lack confidence which is good in a striker but the goal should do wonders for Gregory.
”He displayed all the qualities that persuaded Steve to bring him here. He led the line extremely well, brought people into play and was a goal threat. His goal was an instinctive striker’s finish.