Wright urging St Johnstone players to seal top six place
Saints Boss wants top six place confirmed with a win against Dundee United
Tommy Wright is looking for his St Johnstone side to confirm their top-six spot against Dundee United on Saturday.
With two games remaining before the Ladbrokes Premiership splits, Saints are sitting in fourth place, seven points ahead of ninth-placed Inverness, who have played a fixture less.
And while it is unlikely the McDiarmid Park side will slip into the bottom half of the table, Wright is focused on making sure the club's fifth successive top-half finish is secured at home to bottom side United.
He says: “We are in a good position, we are sitting top of the pile of teams who have not been guaranteed top six yet. We might have enough points as it stands, we don't know. But that is not the mind-set we are taking, the mind-set is we still need more points and we have two games to achieve that. The top-six is important, there is a huge emphasis put on it because we have been in and round there.”
“But it would be another tremendous achievement for a club our size. To keep doing it with the resources we have is a tremendous achievement for the players. I think some people take it for granted, wrongly. I did say at the start of the season that a lot of teams have strengthened and will be better and stronger. That has proved to be case as it has been the tightest race for the top six that I can remember.''
Wright's squad, however, will be stretched for the visit of the Taysiders.
Defender Steven Anderson is out for four weeks with a hamstring injury while Danny Swanson and Murray Davidson are major doubts with respective hamstring and ankle problems and fellow midfielder Liam Craig is suspended.
The Northern Irishman said: Probably Swanson has the best chance of being fit but I am not taking any chances because we have six games to go after the weekend.
“I don't like playing players who are half-fit, they will only be involved if we are sure they are around 95 per cent fit. United will work their socks off because they are fighting for points. In any game, you have to match the opposition in terms of attitude, desire and work rate. We feel if we do that we feel we have enough about us to create enough for us win the game.''