SO THE Saints go marching on. A club-record fifth clean sheet in a fifth consecutive victory, St Johnstone could not have hoped for a better response to their sorry six-goal hammering from Celtic as they lifted themselves into fourth in the table.
Downtrodden and dispirited just last month, there was even a sense of inevitability about this win that was an indication of just what a remarkable turnaround Tommy Wright has managed in the space of a matter of a few weeks.
This was no hard-fought, slug-fest of a success that may have characterised the McDiarmid Park side at times in the past. Instead, it was a triumph that was built on solid defensive foundations, but with the added frills of a potent attacking force that could have made this an even bigger embarrassment for a sorry Hamilton Accies team.
“We’re very pleased,” said assistant-manager Alex Cleland, who replaced boss Tommy Wright in the post-match duties. “We’ve picked up 15 points since being beaten by Celtic so it’s a really good run we’ve been on.
“We’ve just told the boys to keep trying to be better than the game before, and I think we did that today. It was certainly a really good first-half performance; we got the goals and in the second-half we got more. If we keep getting better every week then we’ll take that.
“Zander has five clean sheets but we defend as a team. We’ve worked hard at it and as we defend well. We really look a threat going forward with the attacking options we’ve got in the team.”
Murray Davidson capitalised on constant pressure when he poked in the opener in the 20th minute after Accies keeper Gary Woods had pushed Drey Wright’s low centre into his path six yards out. That advantage was doubled before the break when another cross from the excellent Wright deflected off the shoulder of Ziggy Gordon to nestle in the net.
It was one-way traffic and the interval did nothing to check Saints as an attacking force. Matty Kennedy calmly slipped in the third in the 55th minute from a David Wotherspoon through ball before striking the crossbar with a superb drive midway through the half.
The fourth was seemingly just as inevitable with 16 minutes remaining but summed up Accies’ afternoon. Delphin Tshiembe’s back-pass was picked off by Kennedy and Wotherspoon hammered in his cutback.
“We’re bitterly disappointed,” said Hamilton manager Martin Canning. “We were second best all over the park right from the first whistle. Yes, St Johnstone are going well but we didn’t make it difficult for them at all. We’ve turned up and rolled over and we’ve lost the game.”
The Hamilton travelling support expressed their anger at full-time and when asked what he would say to the fans, Canning added: “Sorry. And they’re well within their rights to have a go. If I was a punter and I was watching that I would be saying the same. I wouldn’t be happy.
“I said that to the players: 'I can take it when it’s justified', and that was justified. It’s part of my job as a manager. I put them on the pitch, I pick the guys to go and play and, if they don’t perform, I’m the target that’s going to get the abuse.”
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