Source: FOOTYMAD
Duberry, See Me After Class
Michael Duberry is willing to take his share of the blame for goals that let three points leave Perth. St Johnstone's Michael Duberry has held his hand up for being culpable for Motherwell's two goals on Saturday but insists the defeat will not derail Saint's season. Duberry was not noticeably at fault for the goals but the former Chelsea and Leeds defender was more than willing to shoulder his share of the responsibility. He said: "The defeat was very disappointing. We let in two sloppy goals and I look at myself for some schoolboy defending for both of them. I could have done better. We'll look at the video and I think we'll see that. It was disappointing because in the second half we had dealt with their attack really well up to that point. They had resorted to just booting it long, then got that one chance and took it. It's annoying because we had two good results against Hibs and felt on the front foot. But we are still full of confidence and I don't think anyone relishes playing us. Saturday was deflating but our good management staff here will get us back on the front foot and we will kick on." St Johnstone now have a double header against bottom club Falkirk (home and away), games which are likely to decide whether Derek McInnes' side face a testing end to the season. Duberry, who signed for the club in January, is quietly confident St Johnstone will not face a battle to retain their SPL status for a second year. He said: "Relegation isn't a word that's part of this club, we're looking forward. The manager doesn't let anyone think about that, we're looking forward not over our shoulder. It doesn't mean we're blase and getting carried away with where we are. We're focused on every game because everyone in this league knows everyone can beat everyone else. With just a bit more consistency we can start turning draws into wins and defeats in to draws." Meanwhile, Motherwell's John Sutton, who scored the decisive goal of three in the game, said: "Our goalkeeping coach Stuart Kerr said before the game to everyone the pitch is little bit little bit lively and if you look at even big John (Ruddy), it was really difficult for him and he's got really good hands. That was in the back of my mind and I thought I'd just follow the ball in. You've just got to keep going in there hoping the keeper's going to spill one and you get the chance for a tap-in." The win realistically - although not yet mathematically - puts Motherwell in the top six and now Sutton admits their target is pushing past Hibs and Dundee United for fourth spot. The Englishman said: "We've got a fantastic squad. Lukas came on and set up my goal and when Jamie Murphy has been out of the team, he has come on and scored goals. If you want to be challenging up at the top of the table then you need a squad like that with competition for places. Obviously Dundee United have a game in hand but it is a realistic aim to try to catch them. First we want to make sure we're in the top six though. But if we do that we then have to play Hibs and Dundee United and although they are clearly good teams there's no reason why we can't catch them." Editor Ger Harley (ger@scottishfitba net)Admin Team (admin@scottishfitba net)This is Scottish-Fitba.Net
