Dundee 1 - 3 St Johnstone: Saints maintain winning run

Gregory Tade believes St Johnstone can carry on their impressive unbeaten run after securing their fourth win on the trot against Dundee.

SCORERS:

Dundee - Conroy 22 (pen)

St Johnstone - Tade 16, Craig 27, MacLean 52

Referee: A Muir

Attendance: 6,158

Steve Lomas’ side made it a memorable September with their third Clydesdale Bank Premier League win in a row to move to within three points of new league leaders Celtic.

It has been a pleasing turnaround for the Perth club who were bottom of the table as recently as a month ago. Tade believes in-form Saints can go from strength to strength in the weeks ahead and further climb the table.

He said: “We’re feeling good about ourselves and long may this run continue. It’s been a very good past month and when you’re in a bit of form you want it to carry on for as long as possible.

“We don’t want to take anything for granted because we know how quickly things can change. But after a not-so-good start we have picked things up quite a lot, so we should be quite confident as we go into the next few games.”

Saints’ only disappointment was the late injury to striker Steven MacLean whose close-range goal in the 52nd minute all but sealed the points for the visitors.

MacLean suffered a suspected dislocated elbow after Tade had opened the scoring in the 16th minute and Ryan Conroy levelled from the penalty spot in the 22nd minute after Frazer Wright had tripped Dundee debutant Martin Boyle inside the box.

Liam Craig restored Saints’ lead in the 27th minute with a fine finish from Gary Miller’s pinpoint cross and MacLean wrapped things up by bundling the ball past Dundee goalkeeper Rab Douglas following Wright’s free header.

Lomas poured praised on his players for their professionalism and commitment at Dens Park. He said: “This is never an easy place to come to and Dundee are looking to make their mark in the SPL. But the boys handled it well and I thought once we got the third goal we could maybe have gone on to score a few more.”

Meanwhile, Dundee manager Barry Smith insists his side have no time to feel sorry for themselves as they sit four points adrift at the foot of the SPL. He said: “We just have to dust ourselves down and get on with it. This is a steep learning curve for everyone but we have to adapt because there are a lot of good teams in this division.”