ST JOHNSTONE caretaker manager Alex Cleland believes the Perth club’s first cinch Premiership win of the season shows they have the quality they need to survive in the top flight this season.
Cleland took charge of the bottom-placed side in the league on a temporary basis on Sunday after Stevie MacLean was sacked and he led the McDiarmid Park outfit to a 2-1 triumph over Kilmarnock away.
The former Dundee United, Rangers and Everton full-back is confident that Saints - who are now just three points Livingston, who have played a game more than them, and Ross County in the table – can put their difficult start to the 2023/24 campaign behind them in the coming weeks.
“You’ve seen what we can produce,” he said. “We knew as coaches with Steven and Liam (assistant Craig) it was about getting the first win. There is character in the dressing-room and we showed it tonight.
“I said before the game there are good players here. League position never lies, but we have good players, there’s a great squad in there.
“Getting the win was massive. I was asked to take it for a game and we got a response. It was a huge effort from everyone and it was so important to get three points."
Cleland added: “We got off to a great start, Nicky’s two goals were brilliant and gave the place a lift. You could see the confidence coming back after that.
“We are delighted, we had to dig deep in the end against a good Kilmarnock side. They pegged us back and we had to hang on at the end, but we defended well and got the three points.
Clark, who returned from an eight month injury lay-off in the 4-0 defeat to St Mirren in Paisely on Saturday, scored his first goals in nearly a year and Cleland admitted he gave St Johnstone a cutting edge in the final third which had been missing.
“Nicky over his career, at all the clubs he’s been at, gets goals,” he said. “He’s a threat in the box and has good hold up play. We knew once we got him and Chris Kane fit then we’d have good options. We also have other options in Stevie May, Luke Jephcott and DJ (Diallang Jaiyesimi).”
Cleland revealed that Dara Costelloe, who was red carded for a rash challenge on Matty Kennedy late on, had been devastated after the game. “Dara is gutted,” he said. “That’s the first red he’s had. It was a badly timed tackle and once it went to VAR we knew it would get upgraded.”
Derek McInnes, whose team fell two goals behind in the opening seven minutes, felt that Kilmarnock lost because it took them so long to get up and running.
McInnes said: “We paid the ultimate price for such a slow start. It is unusual and unlike us.
We have had a lot of praise lately, particularly for our defensive displays and competitiveness. We’ve been aggressive from the outset and started games really well. We knew St Johnstone were in a poor place tonight and they didn’t need any encouragement.
“Both goals were poor. The first one, we had a few opportunities to clear it and we should just put our foot though it and clear it. Then we didn’t get tight enough and paid the ultimate price.
“The second was a free kick and we are normally good at zonal marking. Clark is on the move and we should be moving as well, but we were a bit flat-footed. The movement of Clark and the header was superb and it is these fine margins. I thought we reacted well from that.”
McInnes added: “The one positive is that we have plenty of time left and we back ourselves to score. We have created enough chances. I am disappointed we didn’t make the most of enough opportunities in the first half.
“We spoke at half-time we need to work the keeper more and to get the ball side-to-side more. We knew St Johnstone haven’t been in a good place and were fragile. We gave them a leg up but we needed to go and plant that seed of doubt.
“We did that with Kyle (Vassell) with a great finish. But a combination of good spirit from St Johnstone and them going down to 10 men didn’t really help us. We played most of the game in their half.”
McInnes revealed that Brad Lyons had injured himself walking out for the start of the second half. He said: “He slipped coming back out and had to come off.”
