Mannus happy for chance to relax
St Johnstone goalkeeper Alan Mannus admits their return to winning ways and clean sheets has allowed him to relax away from the game.
Saints moved into the top six of the Scottish Premiership last Saturday with a 1-0 win at Kilmarnock, their fourth consecutive victory and his second shut-out on the trot.
Saints are looking to consolidate their upturn in form when they begin a run of four games against the teams directly above them when Inverness visit McDiarmid Park on Saturday.
The Northern Ireland international said: "We haven't kept as many clean sheets this year as last year, last season was brilliant. I think we kept 24 and that's brilliant for a team like St Johnstone.
"It was nice to have got a couple and hopefully we will get more.
"Hopefully we are well out of that bad patch. It happens to every team at some point.
"When you are going through a bad patch and losing games, conceding goals, everything seems to go against you. It's part of football but it's not a nice feeling.
"It's hard to get it off your mind when you are away from training and back at home doing what you are doing with your family, it's hard not to think about it, because it's constantly on your mind that you are letting people down.
"Whenever things are going well you can relax a bit more away from football and you don't really think about it."
A major threat to the goalkeeper's hopes of keeping another clean sheet is fellow Northern Ireland international Billy McKay, who has himself come through a recent dry run with four goals in six games for Caley Thistle.
Mannus said: "He tends to be one of these players when the ball falls in the box he just seems to be in the right place at the right time.
"He gets into good positions, he feeds off things and he has consistently been among the top scorers since I have been in Scotland. Hopefully we can keep him quiet."
James McFadden will miss out against Inverness. The former Motherwell man has a hamstring strain, but should be fit for the following weekend.
Tam Scobbie and Steven MacLean are making good progress following knee injuries, but are not back in full training.
Inverness youngster Ryan Christie will not throw a tantrum if he is left out of the Caley Thistle line-up on Saturday - because he knows John Hughes is only protecting him.
The 19-year-old was dropped for Partick's Highlands visit last week despite scoring the winner against Dundee the match before.
And it proved to be a wise choice by Hughes as the teenage playmaker was spared the worst parts of the Jags' shock 4-0 win.
The Scotland Under-21 cap hopes to be back in Hughes' side for this weekend's Perth visit but knows his boss will be looking after him if he does not make the starting line-up.
He said: "I wasn't too disappointed to be left out last week. I believe the manager and he talks about resting me and protecting me.
"I believe wholeheartedly that he's doing that, so I trust him whatever team he picks.
"You always expect that he will want to freshen things up after a bad performance. He did that after the Dundee game when we weren't great and it might happen after the Partick defeat.
"That's good for the likes of me who were left on the bench and who want to prove they should be getting a start."
Inverness have an unchanged squad. Hughes is looking for a response to last weekend humbling by Partick and the Highlanders boss is only missing captain Richie Foran.
The Irishman is continuing his rehabilitation from the knee injury that has kept him out since last season.
Source: PA
