Tommy Wright concern at weary St Johnstone

Tommy Wright plans to reassess his players' training schedule after watching his lacklustre St Johnstone team struggle to keep pace with Dundee United in their at Tannadice.

He said: "We looked a bit leggy today so I'll need to look at what we did during the week.

"There was no zip about our performance, no energy, and that is one of the things that is a given for us.

"I'll probably blame myself. I've maybe allowed a session too many this week."

The Northern Irishman was, though, keen to point out that tiredness was no excuse for his players, adding that "they should have been better".

Saints were 3-0 down at half-time, with Keith Watson, David Goodwillie and Gary Mackay-Steven signalling an end to the Perth team's unbeaten start to the Scottish Premiership.

After the break, Stuart Armstrong's goal for United underlined the difference between the teams on the day.

"We are extremely disappointed to lose the derby by so many goals and we are disappointed for the fans," said Wright.

"A week in football is a long time. We experienced a high last week [after the 4-0 win over Ross County] and rightly got the accolades and we were disappointing today.

"But fair play to them. They played extremely well and we knew they would. Their performances have been getting better.

"We thought the first goal was going to be important and they got a huge amount of luck with the deflection.

"We knew they've got good players. We said before the game not to give them anything that would give them a spark, and they looked a confident side after that.

"We were 3-0 down at half-time without being under a lot of pressure but we gave the ball away cheaply and they counter-attacked very well. They caused us problems with that."