St Johnstone: Tommy Wright 'draws line under' late arrivals for Kilmarnock loss

St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright says he has moved on from the late arrival of four players for Saturday's defeat by Kilmarnock at McDiarmid Park.

Wright changed his team after defender Richard Foster and winger Michael O'Halloran did not arrive on time, the latter was then an unused substitute.

Chris Millar and Denny Johnstone were also late and Millar later defended the quartet.

"I've drawn a line under it," Wright said on Monday.

The four players travelling together were delayed in getting to the ground in Perth after a road traffic accident north of Dunblane at 12:25 GMT led to the closure of the A9 for four hours.

Wright said prior to the 2-1 loss to Killie he had "no sympathy" for the late players and the Northern Irishman did not conduct post-match interviews.

He said on Monday: "They have got caught up in something that is not their own doing, but ultimately maybe a bit more time should have been given to get here earlier in terms of the time of year and the weather conditions.

"I am disappointed they didn't make the game, they are disappointed they didn't make the game because ultimately, and I will not change my opinion on it, it is their responsibility to get here on time. Some players get there half-an-hour earlier than they are meant to, some 45 minutes.

Wright is now facing the outbreak of a sickness bug in his squad

"As far as I'm concerned, there is a line drawn under it. We will try and look at ways of negating it. It might mean players staying up overnight but that would be a cost to the club and something that would have to be talked about.

"If we change the time then we will have to look at doing a pre-match [meal] and whether we can do that at the club.

"I have been here nearly 300 games and it has never happened before. That doesn't make it right, because it shouldn't happen. But it did and we will look at ways to try to negate it.

"If I say 12 o'clock and a similar accident happens, it took them four or five hours in the car to get here. That wouldn't help so the only way to negate it totally is to have overnight stays. I don't know if the club will do that. You can minimise ways but you can't totally cover yourself.

"I know [captain] Joe [Shaughnessy] came out in the press and said it didn't affect the team. It does really, when you lose one of your most influential players in the top end of the pitch. So it did have an effect."

Meanwhile, four St Johnstone players are unwell and Wright, whose side are seventh in the Scottish Premiership, cancelled Monday's training to prevent the sickness bug spreading any further

"Two had to have sickness tablets and one had to have a sickness injection," he explained. "So it was an eventful day.

"But ultimately we have got to do better. We know that."