Saints on the road again

Sep 13 2011 by Gordon Bannerman, Perthshire Advertiser Tuesday

AFTER three road trips, the St Johnstone defence has still to be breached.

But manager Derek McInnes knows that impressive track record will be severely tested in the next few weeks, with several SPL away matches on the cards.

Coming off the back of the stalemate against St Mirren in Paisley, the Perth Saints head for Motherwell this weekend. They have a Scottish Communities League Cup match-up with the Buddies at McDiarmid before a Sabbath home game with Hearts.

But then the Docherty’s team bus is booked for ventures to Leith and Kilmarnock.

McInnes, who is resigned to doing without injured skipper Jody Morris for Saturday’s Fir Park visit, said: “We haven’t lost a goal away from home in games at Aberdeen, Celtic and St Mirren. The fixtures have been tough to us with games against the Old Firm in our first four and we are on a run of four out of five league games away. We have also played one game less than many of the teams.

“But we can face these away games with confidence. We have a good record against St Mirren and a point on the road isn’t bad. But it was a game we felt we could win. Unfortunately we didn’t do enough to warrant all three points.

“I can’t say I enjoyed the weekend game. We didn’t play as well as we can. But when you don’t reach the standard of performance you’re looking for it’s important to play to your other strengths. I felt we did that in Paisley.

“We weren’t passing the ball well enough in the first-half and I was glad to get to the interval without losing a goal. But I didn’t feel we were going to lose a goal during the second period.”

With Murray Davidson, Callum Davidson and Sam Parkin sidelined, McInnes was dealt another blow on Friday when Morris succumbed to a hamstring injury.

He said: “Jody was doing some sprints towards the end of the training session when he felt the hamstring tighten. It isn‘t a pull and we will monitor him this week. If he doesn’t make Saturday hopefully he will be fine for the cup game with St Mirren.”

Midfielder Kevin Moon will be among several first team squad given a run in a closed doors game today. He will wear the protective cast designed to prevent damage to the hand which required recent surgery and will be joined by players like Carl Finnigan, Sean Higgins and Marcus Haber.