Manager Tommy Wright hails St Johnstone character

Tommy Wright lauded St Johnstone's character following their 1-0 victory over Partick Thistle.

An ill-tempered draw with Hearts on Saturday saw Saints concede two late goals and reduced to nine men, but Wright was pleased with the response.

"They showed lots of character coming off a difficult game," he told BBC Scotland.

"We've deserved more from some of our away performances, but we dug in and I'm really pleased."

Stevie May opened the scoring for the visitors, grabbing his 20th goal of the season. And it was a strike that will have done little to prevent further speculation about his future at McDiarmid Park.

However, Wright insists it would take a sizeable offer to prise the 21-year-old forward away from Perth.

"I've spoken to the chairman and it will take a lot of money to take Stevie May away from us," he said.

May's opener was thoroughly deserved as St Johnstone dominated for large spells of the first half before enduring a wave of unrelenting Thistle pressure in the second.

Chris Erskine, Lyle Taylor, Kallum Higginbotham and Kris Doolan all came close for the Jags.

"It was always going to be the case with the amount of quality players that Partick have," added Wright on BBC Radio Scotland's Sportsound.

"I thought after we scored our goal it was our worst spell before half-time, but maybe sometimes you have to give credit to the opposition who moved the ball about well in that spell.

"I think we deserved to be one up but Partick did come back into the game."

The Perthshire side face Dundee United next Monday at Tannadice where a win could lift them above Jackie McNamara's men into fifth place.