St Johnstone strikers need to be first line of defence, says Kirk

The Courier

03-05-2025

St Johnstone's defensive injury crisis is well documented.
The back four which kept Celtic at bay and put together a run of six clean-sheets in 10 games has been ripped apart by injury, with key men Drey Wright and Zach Mitchell joining Bozo Mikulic on the sidelines.
Makenzie Kirk's primary role in the Saints team is scoring goals, which will give the Perth side a chance of a great escape at the bottom of the Premiership.
But he also believes the attackers need to be the first line of defence and take as much pressure as possible off their makeshift backline.
'We've had quite a few injuries in the last few weeks at the back,' said Kirk, who will lead the line against Kilmarnock on Saturday.
'It started with Bozo's injury in training, which was a tough one for him and the boys.
'Drey has been so consistent this year.
'It's been a blow losing him because he gives you that experience in the backline and can play higher up the pitch or off the side.
'Then we lost Zach after he'd been doing so well.
'It's obviously been pretty hard to cope with.
'But we have to move on.
'There are boys capable of playing out of position back there.
'And it's important we defend from the front.
'Defending comes through the whole team, making sure we focus on that job.'
Saints haven't been able to apply pressure on a team above them in the relegation battle.
That has to change now, with second bottom Ross County visiting McDiarmid Park next weekend.
'It's important thing is to keep that gap at a minimum,' said Kirk. 'The moment it starts to open up, we've got a mountain to climb.
'So, we just need to keep believing and doing the right things and get the results.
'Naturally, the boys are going to feel the pressure. There are four games left of the season.
'But we are taking it a game at a time. The most important thing right now is to focus on Killie and make sure we do the right things.
'We're at home, we'll have the crowd behind us, and we need to take advantage of that.
'The boys want three points and to then be looking on to next week and hopefully getting another result.
'It's about focusing throughout the 90 minutes on doing the right things to get the three points.'
Kirk, of course, has dad Andy, who is on the Perth coaching staff, to lean on during high stakes spells of the season such as this post-split run-in.
'My dad being around as a coach has helped me a lot in terms of getting the most out of me,' said the Northern Ireland under-21 international.
'He might be a wee bit hard on me at times, but I've always had that from a young age.
'I know that he's always going to get the best out of me.
'He's making sure that I'm doing the right things – on and off the pitch. That I'm living right, making sure that when I'm training, I am training at the highest standard I can.
'He's constantly on at me and I'm very grateful for that because it's something a lot of people within the game don't have.
'He knows me inside out, so he'll always know if I'm even a little bit below it.
'He knows what he's talking about. You've got to listen – because, at the end of the day, what he's saying is right.'