Tommy Wright hits back at Rangers over tackling criticism

Tommy Wright has fired back at Graeme Murty after the opposing manager criticised St Johnstone's physical tactics in the wake of Rangers' 4-1 win at McDiarmid Park.

St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright (left) shakes hands with Rangers assistant manager Jimmy Nicholl. Picture: SNS

Keep up with all the top football news and transfer gossip from England, Scotland and beyond with footballwire.co.uk

The Ibrox boss wasn’t happy when Jamie Murphy was forced from play in the second half with a suspected broken toe, which could see the midfielder miss next Sunday’s Old Firm clash with rivals Celtic.

However, Wright believes it was the away side who deserved criticism for some of their challenges during the match.

The Northern Irishman pointed to a moment where Rangers striker Alfredo Morelos caught Saints centre-back Steven Anderson with an elbow.

He told the Scottish Sun: “I was surprised to read quotes about Rangers being angry with our tackling. If anything, we should have complaints, especially for the Morelos challenge on Anderson.

“Rangers gave away more fouls than we did but there wasn’t one bad foul in the game. If anything I’d have wanted my players to have made more tackles.

“Murray [Davidson] took a knock and had to come off. He got stood on by Jamie Murphy after a challenge. I don’t think it was anything other than accidental, but his foot landed on Murray’s knee and he took a sore one. Thankfully he’ll be fine.

“It’s unfortunate when players pick up knocks, but these things happen. We haven’t been moaning about it.”