St Johnstone win over Ross County delights boss Tommy Wright

St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright felt his side were worthy 2-0 winners against injury-hit Ross County at the Global Energy Stadium.

A first-half penalty from Danny Swanson and a Chris Kane strike late in the game secured all three points for his side.

The visitors controlled the first half and took the lead three minutes from the break when County defender Jay McEveley fouled Kane in the box and Swanson tucked away the spot-kick.

St Johnstone then soaked up all County could throw at them and doubled their lead in the 73rd minute when Kane slotted home a through-ball from substitute David Wotherspoon.

Wright said: ''I think it was comfortable, but to make it comfortable you have to play well - and we played extremely well. In the first half, we were excellent - the best we've been with the ball this season. We put Ross County under a lot of pressure and they defended quite well, putting in a lot of blocks. We were maybe a little bit over-elaborate in the last third but we deserved to be 1-0 up.''

However, Wright conceded his side came under pressure after the break, adding: ''We knew they would come at us at the start of the second half, and we probably helped in that respect. There's nothing wrong with just clearing your lines and getting the ball down the pitch and we didn't do that. But in that spell we still created chances and I think in the second half we had very good counter-attacking play. The second goal was a prime example of that.''

County manager Jim McIntyre was disappointed with his side's display, although the loss of striker Craig Curran and defender Andrew Davies to injury before the game may have contributed to their downfall.

McIntyre said: ''The first-half performance was our worst of the season. We didn't play with any energy or tempo - I thought we were flat. Whether losing Craig Curran and Andrew Davies had an effect on the players' minds, that should never be the case.''

He added: ''I just think it was one of those performances where you're left scratching your head. We had such an opportunity to jump into fourth spot and we don't take it. But you have to give St Johnstone credit. They were better than us today and they deserved it. We analyse the game and they did better things than we did. From that side of things, I'm really disappointed - but we got what we deserved.''Commenting on the injuries to Curran, Davies and Liam Boyce, who was helped off when he hurt his medial ligament, McIntyre said: The only bonus to those injuries is we have an extra week, but again going into the international break on a defeat makes it a long couple of weeks.''