Danny Invincibile has admitted St Johnstone’s players are at a loss to explain why they have turned into the team that can’t score goals.
The Australian frontman was in the side that passed the embarrassing 1000-minute mark without one of their own men scoring an SPL counter, as they shipped three to Inverness Caley Thistle at McDiarmid Park on Monday night.
The Perth men hit the post, were right through on goal, had a netbound header cleared off the line… but still couldn’t find the net.
You have to go back to February 1 and Stevie May’s second strike against Hamilton Accies to find a league goal from a Saint, while Derek McInnes’s men also “boast” the record of lowest senior scorers in Britain.
“It is a difficult one, really difficult,” Invincibile said.
“We had chances and hit the post against Inverness but it really gets you down.”
He added, “You have to keep being positive and making chances in the hope that it is going to turn.
“We are paid to try to cope with the pressures and it is up to us to go out there and put things right.
“We have had three or four games when the opposition goalie has been man-of-the-match.”‘Long and difficult’ droughtInvincibile said, “It is also not like we are getting hammered by teams for not playing well.
“We are producing some good performances at times.
“So it is hard to put your finger on what is happening and all you can do is keep working at it.”
He added, “Every team goes through bad spells but this has been quite a long and difficult one.”
The worry for supporters who have seen their side ship six goals without reply in two games against Inverness and Motherwell in the Scottish Cup semi-final is that the remainder of the campaign will offer little in the way of hope for next season.
However, Invincibile stressed that he and his colleagues are desperate to ensure the season doesn’t peter out.
He said, “We want to finish as high up the table as we can.
“Every place we can climb to will mean more money for the club and this is not a big club with a lot of money coming in so that’s important.”
He added, “Also a lot of things like cup seedings are based on your league position so we know what’s at stake.”