St Johnstone 2 - 0 Inverness CT: Saints are ship-shape and Bristol fashion

DEREK McInnes’s CV has looked pretty impressive for some time now. However, if Bristol City have any doubts as to whether to confirm him as their new manager they should surely look no further than the current SPL table.

St Johnstone are sitting comfortably in the top six of the SPL with an admirable haul of 18 points, level with Hearts and one behind Celtic.

The word around Perth yesterday was that their ambitious manager is as good as signed up to head south and having witnessed the impact his predecessor Owen Coyle went on to make at Burnley and then Bolton, McInnes should have no fears about moving on to a bigger challenge. At the post match press conference however he was still playing down any suggestion that it was a done deal. “I’ve been reluctant to speak about it,” he insisted. “The chairman gave me permission on Friday to speak to Bristol in the early part of the coming week and that’s the situation. So it’s a case of going down there and seeing what happens.”

Despite the speculation that hung over McDiarmid Park as heavy as the grey October sky yesterday this was an entirely perfunctory victory for Saints against an Inverness side who were described by their own manager, Terry Butcher, as “their own most difficult opponents, completely Jekyll and Hyde”.

As soon as the impressive Cillian Sheridan – Francisco Sandaza combination clicked once again for the Perth men after 12 minutes with the Irishman feeding his strike partner to bury the ball in the roof of the net McInnes’s side looked to be on their way to yet another three points. Within minutes the Spaniard could easily have had both his and St Johnstone’s second with Liam Craig this time supplying the ammunition from out on the wing. As the Spaniard jinked his way towards the Inverness goal the home support rose from their seats in expectation but Ryan Esson put in a brave and decisive block at close range.

There must undoubtedly have been a sense of relief in the visitors ranks when Sheridan’s contribution to the proceedings was abruptly truncated with he hobbled from the field holding his hamstring. In Marcus Haber the Perth side had a willing runner as a replacement but it was almost immediately noticeable that much of the inventiveness evaporated from their attacking incursions.

Inverness had their fair share of possession and set pieces around the Saints penalty area but only rarely gave Peter Enckelman any cause for concern in what must have been one of their most insipid 90 minutes of this campaign. They were fortunate not to go further behind in the last few seconds before the break when Haber’s mis-timed shot beat Esson but bobbled off the post. In the scramble that followed Craig was only denied by a last ditched intervention by Thomas Piermayr.

The Highlanders gave it a bit of a go in the early stages of the second half but the same mixture of predictability and lack of incisiveness was a reminder of just how acutely they miss the predatory instincts of the departed Adam Rooney.

Kevin Moon failed to make the most of an angled cross from Craig which picked him out in the six-yard box, with his half volley sent skywards. However, entry to the comfort zone was only momentarily delayed for the hosts as Haber released Jody Morris whose cross was only partially cleared by Esson and Dave Mackay pounced to drill in the all important second goal.

It has never been in the nature of the St Johnstone side that McInnes has shaped over the last four years to be anything other than disciplined and hard working and it was no different yesterday. As Inverness headed back up the A9 with only an Aiden Chippendale effort that rattled the crossbar to stir their fans there was no show boating from either the Perth side’s manager or players. Just a job well done.