Familiar feel as Saints draw home blank

St Johnstone will go into the new year striving to l e av e familiar failings behind them in the old one. The unpalatable 2021 alternative is yet more games of football like this contest that blur into one.

On so many occasions this season Saints have huffed and puffed but seldom have they blown a house down.

The Perth side got near to the 30-mark for shots, yet the man they were tasked with getting the ball past didn’t have a problem keeping a clean-sheet.

T h a t ’s the sort of imbalance that defies football logic but has become all too common at Mcdiarmid Park, where the home team have won just two league games out of 11.

The theory that if you keep putting yourself into a position to score, the goals and victories will come, is being severely tested.

Stevie May and Chris Kane are the strikers who have served Callum Davidson best so far in this campaign but both should have put away headers from eight yards out.

With deadline day signing Guy Melamed left on the bench again, the burden of scoring the goals that will take Saints away from the Pr e m i e r s h i p danger zone is likely to be carried by those two for the foreseeable future.

Recruiting Me l a m e d from Israel always had the gamble feel about it but the chances of it paying off are receding with every passing week.

It isn’t that long ago Saints were a team on a long unbeaten run rather than a winless one and it is now a high-stakes challenge in Dingwall at the weekend that provides the opportunity to flip the narrative again.

Saints actually made a very tentative start to the match and should have been punished for it.

With less than two minutes on the clock it was far too easy for Nathan Thomas to drive through the heart of the home defence.

Thankfully for Saints, one of Davidson’s men was switched on, Zander Clark, and he produced a magnificent save with his right foot to prevent a goal.

Thomas shouldn’t have given him a chance, though. It was as much a bad miss as a superb block.

Hamilton are a muchimproved side from the shambolic unit that conceded five goals to Saints the last time these teams met and David Moyo was proving to be a troublesome target man through the middle.

When he peeled off to the back post, the Pe r t h defenders did well to put enough pressure on him to crowd him out when he looked to be the favourite to connect with Thomas’s cross.

Midway through the first half Saints started to find a bit of attacking rhythm and play the game in their opponents’ territory.

The right-hand side was proving to be a profitable route to the Hamilton box and an Ali Mccann cross from there was met by Kane. He didn’t make a good enough connection with his first-time shot at the near post, however.

Mccann claimed for a penalty on 25 minutes when he was clipped just inside the box. Referee David Mu n r o wasn’ t interested in his appeal and when the ball came back into the path of Callum Booth, the fullback’s shot flew just over the bar.

From their poor start, Saints had taken near complete control and should have had something to show for it.

David Wo t h e r s p o o n delivered the sort of inswinging cross from the left that strikers crave. May just needed to divert it with a slight touch and Kyle Gourlay would have had no chance but he failed to connect at all.

Dealing with long setpieces into their box has been an issue for Saints of late and there was another such example when Andrew Winter reacted quickest to Moyo’s knockdown and got a shot away that just missed Clark’s left-hand post.

On the stroke of halftime Kane rolled his marker expertly on the 18yard line but he couldn’t produce a finish to match it, instead shooting straight at Gourlay.

Saints started the second period well but again it was a case of plenty of the ball but an armchair ride for the opposition keeper.

In 15 minutes of controlling the game, the nearest they came to scoring was a deflected Booth shot that nearly dipped under the bar.

Just after the hour-mark there was a reminder of Accies’ threat on the break, albeit this wasn’ t happening very often.

When a Saints corner came to nothing, Thomas ran virtually the full length of the pitch unchallenged before slashing a left foot shot wide.

Mccann, who scored a winner against Hamilton a year ago, did well to work himself some space for a shot at the edge of the box but Gourlay had it covered as it drifted past the post.

The Accies goalie didn’t have a May strike covered a few minutes later when he cut in from the left but it was the same end-result – another effort off target.

The best opportunity of the second half fell to Kane on 84 minutes. Unmarked when Danny Mcnamara’s cross dropped on his forehead, he steered the ball wide.

Wotherspoon got a better connection on a header seconds later – and got a bit closer – but it went into the side-netting.

With two minutes left, substitute Michael O’halloran was in on goal but squandered a wonderful opening from just six yards out.

That proved to be the last chance and 0-0 it finished.