2017–18 St Johnstone F.C. season

St Johnstone
2017–18 season
Chairman	Steve Brown
Manager	Tommy Wright
Stadium	McDiarmid Park; Perth, Scotland; (Capacity: 10,696)
Scottish Premiership	8th
Scottish Cup	Fifth round, lost to Hearts
Scottish League Cup	Second round, lost to Partick Thistle
Europa League	First qualifying round, lost to FK Trakai
Top goalscorer	League: ; Steven MacLean (9); All: ; Steven MacLean (9)
Highest home attendance	6,887 vs. Rangers; 13 October 2017
Lowest home attendance	2,037 vs. Hamilton Academical; 28 March 2018
Average home league attendance	3,809
Home colours	Away colours
	← 2016–17 2018–19 →

The 2017–18 season was the club's fifth season in the Scottish Premiership and their ninth consecutive season in the top flight of Scottish football. St Johnstone also competed in the Scottish Cup, the League Cup, and after a years absence they competed in qualifying for the Europa League.^[2] They were knocked out by FK Trakai in the First qualifying round and finished Eighth place in the League.^[3] This was the final season at the club for legends Alan Mannus, Steven MacLean, and Chris Millar,^[4] with the latter being rewarded with a testimonial.^[5]

Results & fixtures

Win Draw Loss Postponed

Pre-season

22 June 2017 Friendly	Rangers	0−0	St Johnstone	Auchenhowie
15:00		Report		Stadium: Rangers Training Centre

1 July 2017^[6] Friendly	St Johnstone	0–3	Aberdeen	McDiarmid Park
15:00 BST		AFC Report	Rooney 32' Christie 43' Anderson 85'	Attendance: 1,939^[7]

15 July 2017^[8] Friendly	St Johnstone	3−0	Sunderland	McDiarmid Park
14:00 BST	MacLean 19' Wotherspoon 21', 24'	Report Highlights		Attendance: 2,032 Referee: Nick Walsh

18 July 2017 Friendly	Rangers	0−1	St Johnstone	Auchenhowie
14:30			Hendry 80'	Stadium: Rangers Training Centre

Scottish Premiership

5 August 2017 1	Kilmarnock	1–2	St Johnstone	Rugby Park, Kilmarnock
15:00	Boyd 59'	Report	Wotherspoon 10' O'Halloran 89'	Attendance: 3,935 Referee: Steven McLean

12 August 2017 2	St Johnstone	4–1	Motherwell	McDiarmid Park, Perth
15:00	MacLean 8' O'Halloran 18', 74' Davidson 90'	Report	Rose 28' McHugh 36' 76' Carson 63' Dunne 89'	Attendance: 3,451 Referee: Craig Thomson

19 August 2017 3	St Johnstone	1–0	Partick Thistle	McDiarmid Park, Perth
15:00	O'Halloran 33'	Report		Attendance: 3,470 Referee: Barry Cook

26 August 2017 4	Celtic	1–1	St Johnstone	Celtic Park, Glasgow
15:00	McGregor 79'	Report	MacLean 39'	Attendance: 58,466 Referee: Willie Collum

9 September 2017 5	St Johnstone	1–1	Hibernian	McDiarmid Park, Perth
15:00	O'Halloran 48'	Report	Paton 61' (o.g.)	Attendance: 5,591 Referee: Nick Walsh

16 September 2017 6	Dundee	3–2	St Johnstone	Dens Park, Dundee
15:00	Leitch-Smith 9', 65' Moussa 78' (pen.) O'Dea 80' 83'	Report	Craig 75' (pen.), 84' (pen.)	Attendance: 6,001 Referee: Alan Muir

23 September 2017 7	St Johnstone	2–1	Hamilton Academical	McDiarmid Park, Perth
15:00	MacLean 49' Davidson 84'	Report	Docherty 24' MacKinnon 90'	Attendance: 2,880 Referee: Willie Collum

30 September 2017 8	Aberdeen	3–0	St Johnstone	Pittodrie Stadium, Aberdeen
15:00	Rooney 7', 18', 81' (pen.)	Report		Attendance: 14,879 Referee: John Beaton

13 October 2017 9	St Johnstone	0–3	Rangers	McDiarmid Park, Perth
19:45	Anderson 65' 71'	BBC Report	Peña 27', 78' Dorrans 86'	Attendance: 6,887 Referee: Don Robertson

21 October 2017 10	Heart of Midlothian	1–0	St Johnstone	Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh
15:00	Lafferty 74'	Report		Attendance: 18,534 Referee: Nick Walsh

25 October 2017 11	St Johnstone	0–0	Ross County	McDiarmid Park, Perth
19:45		BBC Report		Attendance: 2,267 Referee: Barry Cook

28 October 2017 12	Partick Thistle	1–0	St Johnstone	Firhill Stadium, Glasgow
15:00	Storey 74'	BBC Report		Attendance: 2,870 Referee: John Beaton

4 November 2017 13	St Johnstone	0–4	Celtic	McDiarmid Park, Perth
12:30		BBC Sport	Sinclair 28' Dembélé 72' Anderson 75' (o.g.) Ntcham 89'	Attendance: 6,800 Referee: Bobby Madden

18 November 2017 14	Hibernian	1–2	St Johnstone	Easter Road, Edinburgh
15:00	Stokes 90+1' (pen.)	BBC Report	Davidson 74' MacLean 90+3'	Attendance: 17,044 Referee: Craig Thomson (referee)

25 November 2017 15^{[N 1]}	Motherwell	P–P	St Johnstone	Fir Park, Motherwell
15:00

2 December 2017 16	St Johnstone	1–2	Kilmarnock	McDiarmid Park, Perth
15:00	MacLean 43'	BBC Report	Findlay 10' Brophy 66'	Attendance: 2.950 Referee: John Beaton

9 December 2017 17	Hamilton Academical	0–1	St Johnstone	New Douglas Park, Hamilton
15:00		BBC Report	Scougall 66'	Attendance: 1,451 Referee: Craig Thomson

13 December 2017 18	St Johnstone	0–3	Aberdeen	McDiarmid Park, Perth
19:45		BBC Report	Rooney 20' Arnason 33' Christie 60'	Attendance: 2,911 Referee: Alan Muir

16 December 2017 19	Rangers	1–3	St Johnstone	Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow
15:00	Morelos 5'	BBC Report	Alston 10' Johnstone 61' Cummins 71'	Attendance: 47,923 Referee: Don Robertson

23 December 2017 20	St Johnstone	0–0	Heart of Midlothian	McDiarmid Park, Perth
15:00		BBC Report	Cochrane 56' 78'	Attendance: 4,975 Referee: Clancy

27 December 2017 21	Ross County	1–1	St Johnstone	Victoria Park, Dingwall
19:45	Schalk 54' (pen.)	BBC Report	Johnstone 2'	Attendance: 3,3636 Referee: Greg Aitken

30 December 2017 22	St Johnstone	0–2	Dundee	McDiarmid Park, Perth
15:00	Foster 22'	BBC Report	Haber 3' Leitch-Smith 90'	Attendance: 4,679 Referee: Willie Collum

27 January 2018 24	St Johnstone	1–3	Partick Thistle	McDiarmid Park, Perth
15:00	Craig 74' (pen.)	BBC Report	Lawless 13' Sammon 64' Edwards 90+4'	Attendance: 2,848 Referee: Gavin Duncan

31 January 2018 25^{[N 2]}	St Johnstone	P–P	Hamilton Academical	McDiarmid Park, Perth
		Report

3 February 2018 26	Heart of Midlothian	1–0	St Johnstone	Tynecastle Park, Edinburgh
15:00	Milinković 46'	BBC Report	Wotherspoon 57' 62'	Attendance: 16,197 Referee: Andrew Dallas

6 February 2018 15^{[N 3]}	Motherwell	2–0	St Johnstone	Fir Park, Motherwell
19:45	Campbell 64' Main 70'	BBC Report		Attendance: 3,227 Referee: Don Robertson

17 February 2018 27	Celtic	0–0	St Johnstone	Celtic Park, Glasgow
15:00		BBC Report		Attendance: 56,867 Referee: John Beaton

24 February 2018 28	St Johnstone	2–0	Ross County	McDiarmid Park, Perth
15:00	Davidson 29', 40'	BBC Report		Attendance: 2,533 Referee: Willie Collum

28 February 2018 29	St Johnstone	1–4	Rangers	McDiarmid Park, Perth
19:45	Kerr 62'	BBC Report	Tavernier 12' (pen.) Windass 25' Goss 40' Morelos 56'	Attendance: 5,737 Referee: Steven McLean

7 March 2018 23	Kilmarnock	2–0	St Johnstone	Rugby Park, Kilmarnock
19:45	Boyd 30' (pen.) Erwin 58'	BBC Report	Kerr 42'	Attendance: 3,807 Referee: Willie Collum

10 March 2018 30	Dundee	0–4	St Johnstone	Dens Park, Dundee
15:00		BBC Report	Piggott 24' (o.g.) Kane 37', 66' Alston 64'	Attendance: 5,336 Referee: Craig Thomson

16 March 2018 31	St Johnstone	1–1	Hibernian	McDiarmid Park, Perth
19:45	Kane 83'	BBC Report	Ambrose 2' Marciano 14'	Attendance: 3,652 Referee: John Beaton

28 March 2018 25^{[N 4]}	St Johnstone	1–0	Hamilton Academical	McDiarmid Park, Perth
19:45	McMann 61' (o.g.)	BBC Report		Attendance: 2,037 Referee: Euan Anderson

31 March 2018 32	Aberdeen	4–1	St Johnstone	Pittodrie Stadium, Aberdeen
15:00	Christie 34' May 41' Stewart 51', 82'	BBC Report	Davidson 19' Anderson 65' Willock 68'	Attendance: 14,161 Referee: Bobby Madden

7 April 2018 33	St Johnstone	0–0	Motherwell	McDiarmid Park, Perth
15:00	Foster 62' Davidson 80'	BBC Report	Kipré 51' Rose 75'	Attendance: 2,409 Referee: Willie Collum

21 April 2018 34	Dundee	2–1	St Johnstone	Dens Park, Dundee
15:00	Moussa 1', 88'	BBC Report	MacLean 85'	Attendance: 5,592 Referee: Don Robertson

28 April 2018 35	St Johnstone	1–1	Partick Thistle	McDiarmid Park, Perth
15:00	Shaughnessy 39'	BBC Report	Sammon 89' (pen.)	Attendance: 2,925 Referee: Alan Muir

5 May 2018 36	Motherwell	1–5	St Johnstone	Fir Park, Motherwell
15:00	Bigirimana 78' 84' Çiftçi 83'	BBC Report	MacLean 31', 40', 56' Anderson 36' Davidson 79' McMillan 81'	Attendance: 3,524 Referee: Gavin Duncan

8 May 2018 37	Hamilton Academical	1–2	St Johnstone	New Douglas Park, Hamilton
19:45	Imrie 82'	BBC Report	McMillan 65' (pen.) Wotherspoon 80'	Attendance: 2,367 Referee: Kevin Clancy

12 May 2018 38	St Johnstone	1–1	Ross County	McDiarmid Park, Perth
15:00	Wotherspoon 90+2'	BBC Report	Curran 3'	Attendance: Nick Walsh Referee: 3,279

UEFA Europa League

Qualifying phase

29 June 2017 First qualifying round 1st leg	St Johnstone	1–2	Trakai	McDiarmid Park, Perth
19:45	Shaughnessy 32'	UEFA Report BBC Report	Maksimov 14' Šilėnas 36'	Attendance: 5,636 Referee: Fran Jović (Croatia)

6 July 2017 First qualifying round 2nd leg	Trakai	1–0 (3–1 agg.)	St Johnstone	LFF Stadium, Vilnius
17:00	Maksimov 88'	BBC Report		Attendance: 2,000 Referee: Stanislav Todorov (Bulgaria)

Scottish League Cup

8 August 2017 Second round	St Johnstone	0–3	Partick Thistle	McDiarmid Park, Perth
19:45		Report	Lawless 50' (pen.) Edwards 62' Erskine 90'	Attendance: 2,619 Referee: Euan Anderson

Scottish Cup

20 January 2018 Fourth round	Albion Rovers	P–P	St Johnstone	Coatbridge
15:00		Report		Stadium: Cliftonhill

23 January 2018 Fourth round	Albion Rovers	P–P	St Johnstone	Coatbridge
19:45		Report		Stadium: Cliftonhill

29 January 2018 Fourth round	Albion Rovers	0–4	St Johnstone	Coatbridge
19:45		BBC Report	Kane 3', 57', 70' McClean 51'	Stadium: Cliftonhill Attendance: 1,130 Referee: Mat Northcroft

10 February 2018 Fifth round	Heart of Midlothian	3–0	St Johnstone	Edinburgh
15:00	Lafferty 7', 58' Mitchell 54'	BBC Report		Stadium: Tynecastle Park Attendance: 12,393 Referee: Kevin Clancy

Squad statistics

Appearances

As of 12 May 2018^[9]

No.	Pos	Player	Premiership		Europa League		League Cup		Scottish Cup		Total
No.	Pos	Player	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK	Alan Mannus	22	0	0	0	1	0	2	0	25	0
3	DF	Scott Tanser	24+5	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	31	0
4	MF	Blair Alston	17+7	2	2	0	1	0	1+1	0	29	2
5	DF	Joe Shaughnessy (c)	38	1	2	1	1	0	2	0	43	2
6	DF	Steven Anderson	34	1	0	0	1	0	1	0	36	1
7	MF	Chris Millar	13+3	0	1+1	0	0	0	1	0	19	0
8	MF	Murray Davidson	29	5	1	0	1	0	2	0	33	5
9	FW	Steven MacLean	26+4	9	1+1	0	1	0	0	0	33	9
10	MF	David Wotherspoon	25+10	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	35	3
11	MF	George Williams	10+1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	11	0
12	GK	Zander Clark	16+1	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	19	0
14	DF	Aaron Comrie	12	0	0	0	0	0	0+1	0	13	0
15	DF	Jason Kerr	15	1	0	0	0	0	2	0	17	1
16	FW	David McMillan	2+2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	2
17	FW	Denny Johnstone	8+12	2	0	0	0	0	1+1	0	22	2
19	DF	Richard Foster	22+2	0	2	0	1	0	1	0	28	0
20	MF	Kyle McClean	0+5	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	6	1
21	MF	Stefan Scougall	18+6	1	1+1	0	0+1	0	0	0	27	1
22	DF	Keith Watson	1+1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
23	DF	Liam Gordon	5+2	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	8	0
24	DF	Brian Easton	12+1	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	15	0
25	FW	Chris Kane	10+2	3	1+1	0	0+1	0	2	3	17	6
26	MF	Liam Craig	17+10	3	2	0	1	0	1	0	31	3
27	MF	Craig Thomson	0+4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
28	MF	Matty Willock	6+5	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	12	1
30	GK	Mark Hurst	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
37	MF	Ali McCann	1+2	0	0	0	0	0	0+1	0	4	0
43	MF	John Robertson	0+2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
50	FW	Callum Hendry	1+4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
Players who left the club during the 2017–18 season
11	FW	Michael O'Halloran (signed for Rangers)	12+4	5	0	0	1	0	0	0	17	5
18	MF	Paul Paton (signed for Plymouth Argyle)	16+1	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	19	0
28	DF	Ally Gilchrist (signed for Shamrock Rovers)	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
29	FW	Graham Cummins (signed for Cork City)	6+9	1	1+1	0	0+1	0	0	0	18	1
31	FW	Greg Hurst (loaned to East Fife & Forfar Athletic)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
32	DF	Cameron Thompson (loaned to Stirling Albion)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Team statistics

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
6	Heart of Midlothian	38	12	13	13	39	39	0	49

7	Motherwell	38	13	9	16	43	49	−6	48
8	St Johnstone	38	12	10	16	42	53	−11	46
9	Dundee	38	11	6	21	36	57	−21	39
10	Hamilton Academical	38	9	6	23	47	68	−21	33

Source: Soccerway BBC
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Play-off (only if deciding champion, UEFA competitions qualification and second-stage group allocation).^[10]
Notes:

^ Teams play each other three times (33 matches) before the league is split into two groups (the top six and the bottom six).

Footnotes

^ Match postponed due to Motherwell involvement in the League Cup.
^ Match postponed due to Saints involvement in Scottish Cup.
^ Rearranged game after postponement.
^ Rearranged game after postponement.

References

^ "St Johnstone Performance Stats". ESPN.
^ Online, Record Sport (14 May 2017). "When Celtic, Aberdeen, Rangers and St Johnstone play their first Euro qualifiers".
^ GB, Sports Media. "St. Johnstone - News Item". www.perthstjohnstonefc.co.uk.
^ "St Johnstone 1-1 Ross County". May 12, 2018 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
^ GB, Sports Media. "St. Johnstone - News Item". www.perthstjohnstonefc.co.uk.
^ "2017-18 Pre-Season fixtures announced". afc.co.uk. 2 June 2017.
^ "Today's official attendance at McDiarmid Park was 1939 including 1075 Dons fans! Thanks again for your support! #StandFree". Aberdeen FC. 1 July 2017.
^ "St Johnstone - Fixtures". perthstjohnstone. 8 July 2017.
^ "St Johnstone FC Player Appearances | Past & Present | Soccer Base". www.soccerbase.com.
^ "Premiership 2017/2018 - Season rules". Scoresway. Retrieved 1 June 2017.

[14] Teams play each other three times (33 matches) before the league is split into two groups (the top six and the bottom six).

[Postponement-9] Match postponed due to Motherwell involvement in the League Cup.

[Postponed2-10] Match postponed due to Saints involvement in Scottish Cup.

[Rearrange-11] Rearranged game after postponement.

[Rearrange2-12] Rearranged game after postponement.

[1] "St Johnstone Performance Stats". ESPN.

[2] Online, Record Sport (14 May 2017). "When Celtic, Aberdeen, Rangers and St Johnstone play their first Euro qualifiers".

[3] GB, Sports Media. "St. Johnstone - News Item". www.perthstjohnstonefc.co.uk.

[4] "St Johnstone 1-1 Ross County". May 12, 2018 – via www.bbc.co.uk.

[5] GB, Sports Media. "St. Johnstone - News Item". www.perthstjohnstonefc.co.uk.

[Pre-Season_Friendly-6] "2017-18 Pre-Season fixtures announced". afc.co.uk. 2 June 2017.

[7] "Today's official attendance at McDiarmid Park was 1939 including 1075 Dons fans! Thanks again for your support! #StandFree". Aberdeen FC. 1 July 2017.

[8] "St Johnstone - Fixtures". perthstjohnstone. 8 July 2017.

[13] "St Johnstone FC Player Appearances | Past & Present | Soccer Base". www.soccerbase.com.

[15] "Premiership 2017/2018 - Season rules". Scoresway. Retrieved 1 June 2017.

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