Dundee 2
St Johnstone 0
League (Premier Division)

Match Report

Any lingering hopes St Johnstone may have held of retaining their Premier League status next season with a 9-0 win over Tayside rivals Dundee at Dens Park on Saturday lasted precisely one minute.

That is exactly how long it took for Iain Ferguson to put the ball into the St Johnstone net for the first of his two goals to bring his total for the season to 20 and snatch the title of leading Dens scorer from teammate Walker McCall.

To be fair, Saints did have the chances to score several goals in a match which was played at only half throttle. But there was no way that they even looked like getting the barrage they needed to perform their miracle.

So it is back to the First Division for the Perth club and one can't help but feel sorry for Alex Rennie's men, who fought so courageously to remain in the Premier League to the bitter end after a disastrous start to a season which began so full of hope.

Still, Alex. sounded confident that his team's sojourn in the First Division would be brief when he said after the game, "We have learned a lot from our experience in the Premier League.

"If we take what we have learned with us into the First Division and play at the same pace as we have had to play in the Premier League, I think we will be back up again next season."

The Saints boss, like every other manager in the country, must now set about putting his house in order for next season.

He has several players whose contracts have expired, appreciates that there could be difficulties over re-signing some of them, but reckons these are not insurmountable. Archie Knox admits to the same problems.

Two of his star players, Cammy Fraser and Iain Ferguson, are on freedom of contract, and his first job will be to try to persuade this pair that their future lies with Dundee-in the face of opposition from more affluent clubs.

He admits he has already had an offer for one of his players, presumably either Fraser or Ferguson, but says Dundee are not interested in the offer submitted.

There are no medals for guessing the club interested is Rangers, desperate to strengthen their first team squad for next season.

What was made abundantly clear on Saturday was that the fans want to keep Jim McInally on loan from Celtic. There were continual chants of "there's only one McInally."

Even if McInally does stay, Archie reckons he will still need to bring in six new players for next season.

He thinks he knows the identities of that number of players. The question, however is-where does the money come from to get them?"

The answer could come in the sale of at least one player for a lot of money.

Amidst all the speculation there was still room for a bit of sentiment after Saturday's game.

It came when Dr John Langlands, the club doctor, who has been associated with Dundee for the past 30 years, retired from a post in which he has worked conscientiously and with a great sense of humour.

He was presented with crystal glasses by chairman Ian Gellatly to mark the occasion and a "Ping" putter from the players in a quiet ceremony in the boardroom.

Dr Tom Dimmock, a rugby man would you believe, was named as his successor.

Match report written by The Courier