St Johnstone V Dundee Utd at McDiarmid Park : Match Preview
31 August 2012 07:01
Lomas confident results will come for Saints
Steve Lomas hopes St Johnstone's performances will soon be rewarded with points as they chase their first win of the season.
The Perth club have just a single point on the board from their opening four games, after earning a draw with Motherwell.
However, Lomas feels there were plenty of positives to take from their matches so far, other than a 2-1 defeat at home to Aberdeen.
Next up is the visit of Dundee United in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League and the Saints boss is determined to remain positive.
He said: "There is always pressure but there were a massive amount of positives against Hibs.
"If we keep playing the way we did, it will turn for us. We've got to believe that.
"We played a lot worse last season and got wins.
"We've got to keep looking at the performances and hopefully the results will kick in.
"Against Hibs and Motherwell I was more than happy with the performances and the boys didn't get what they deserved."
Lomas believes Saints and United will both have a point to prove at McDiarmid Park.
He added: "It's going to be a decent game.
"It's a local derby and they will want to bounce back from Kilmarnock and we want to get off the mark with a win.
"I've been pleased with all the other performances, if not the points.
"The Aberdeen one rankles so we want to put that right tomorrow.
"I'm a firm believer that performances normally take care of results but in terms of the Hibs and Motherwell games, it probably hasn't done.
"We are hoping we can put a performance in for the fans and get the three points - it's as simple as that."
For Lomas, the visit of United provides an opportunity to make amends to the supporters for the Dons defeat.
He said: "The Aberdeen game was poor, there is no getting away from that.
"Our responsibility is to go out and put a performance in that hopefully cheers the fans up.
"We owe the fans a performance after the Aberdeen game."
Meanwhile, Lomas does not envisage any late action in the transfer market ahead of tonight's deadline.
He said: "It would be nice to get two or three in but I wouldn't have thought so."
Peter Houston is sure watching a repeat of their collapse against Kilmarnock last week can help Dundee United triumph.
The Tannadice manager made his players watch a repeat of last weekend's 3-1 defeat at Rugby Park which ended their 100 per cent start to the new campaign and their early-season stay at the top of the SPL.
Houston's side were uncharacteristically slack to let Kenny Shiels' men run out comfortable winners but he's convinced seeing a re-run of their mistakes will aid them in their bid to recover at the first attempt in Perth.
Houston said: "It was a worthwhile exercise to let us see where we went wrong last week.
"I don't think there will be too many times this season when we have to do video analysis.
"But since watching it again on Monday the boys have had a good week in training so are raring to go again.
"I would have to say that any time they've suffered a disappointment in the past they've always shown the right response in the next game. They're an honest bunch of boys.
"So I'm hoping that's the case again because this is a derby game at a place where we've done fairly well in the past.
"The players won't need any extra motivation to go out there and do well which I hope proves to be correct."
Houston reckons going to face their Tayside rivals is the ideal fixture as they bid to get back to winning ways.
He said: "They're normally open, enjoyable games with goal-scoring chances.
"Because it's a derby there will be a good atmosphere at McDiarmid Park and we'll take a good following as it's pretty nearby.
"It's got the makings of a good game and in many ways it's the right kind of game for us after what happened at Kilmarnock."
