Latest news with #ElliotWatt
The Courier
12-05-2025
- Sport
- The Courier
Elliot Watt reveals he has lost a STONE in weight at St Johnstone but never lost belief
Elliot Watt has shed the pounds during his loan at St Johnstone – a full stone's worth of them. But the former Scotland under-21 international has never lost his conviction that he can play a starring role in keeping the Perth club in the Premiership. Watt revealed that he has transformed his body after moving north of the border. That was hard physical work. However, being starved of game-time was a greater ordeal. 'Just before I left Burton (Albion) I had my body fats done for the first time in the season,' Watt explained. 'And on the back of that, I spoke to a top nutritionist who works with Tom Aspinall, the UFC fighter, and Jack Catterall the boxer who famously got robbed up here off Josh Taylor. 'I had a Zoom call with him. 'That was the first step on the ladder before I even joined St Johnstone. 'From then it's been about battering my nutrition, making sure I'm getting the right fuel in. 'My body fat has dropped massively. I'm probably weighing about a stone lighter than when I first arrived. 'I've been in the gym every day. I feel like I'm at my peak, physically. 'It's a shame that the season is ending – hopefully well for us – because I'd like to keep going in this shape.' There was a gap of two months between Watt starting against Hearts and coming off the bench at Motherwell, with not a single minute of game-time in between. 'It was a tough time in my life, there's no hiding that,' he said. 'The first time I'd really experienced being out of the team for a long period. 'I'd probably only ever missed two games back to back. I've always been a main part of the teams I've played for. 'Eight games without playing at all was really tough, not just for me but my family. 'I've brought my fiancée and my two kids up here. 'For them to be up here and away from family and not having the chance to watch me in games was tough. 'The only way I knew to try and get back in the team was to put my head down and work harder than I ever have before. 'I feel as though I'm reaping the rewards of that now. 'I'm in the best physical state I've ever been in my career by a country mile. 'And that's thankfully shown on the pitch by adding goals and assists. 'I'm really proud of myself.' Watt had regular chats with Simo Valakari during his time out of the team and never took the huff. 'I obviously didn't agree with it at the time,' said the 25-year-old. 'I felt there was a lot I could bring to the team and contribute. 'But I respected the decision. He's the manager at the end of the day. 'I probably instigated most of the conversations. Sometimes I walked out of his office not agreeing with why I wasn't playing. 'But it's football, thankfully he put me on in the Motherwell game to give me a chance. 'I hope I am repaying him now and I want to keep repaying him going forward.' Watt insisted that there is plenty of fight left in the St Johnstone dressing room, with his weekend winner against Ross County ensuring the relegation battle will go into the last week of the season. 'The win was massive,' said Watt. 'It was do or die. 'We can't get carried away. It's a quick turnaround to Wednesday. Tynecastle is no easy place to go, especially at the minute. 'Beating Ross County was the first step. Now we've got to go again. 'Our character was questioned – and rightly so. 'When you're at the bottom of the league and fans are seeing the team go down, it's not a nice feeling. 'I've been there as a Preston fan myself, so I know the feeling. 'But never once from inside the changing room have I seen lads' heads drop or anybody throw the towel in. 'We've continued to fight and try to get the club out of this situation. 'When things aren't going for you, it's hard to get things to bounce your way. 'You saw that against Kilmarnock and I thought we were going to see it again with the second goal that was disallowed for them. 'Thankfully we had a bit of luck on our side and it got chalked off. We need to use this momentum on Wednesday.' Watt has now scored two goals in three games – and proved his father right! 'My dad has been going on at me since the start of my career to take more chances, get forward more and take the shots,' said the former Wolves midfielder. 'When I was celebrating, I looked over at him and he was celebrating the most in the crowd. 'He'll definitely be pleased with that one. 'My mum and dad are the best parents you could ask for. 'They've supported me for 20-odd years so any time I'm playing they'll be up here, no matter where it is in the country.'
BBC News
11-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Watt hails 'enormous' win as Saints retain survival hope
Midfielder Elliot Watt believes the "do or die" 2-1 victory over Ross County shows St Johnstone possess the character retain their Premiership against the Dingwall side would have confirmed automatic relegation to the Championship but Daniels Balodis' first-half header and Watt's second half winner reduced the gap on Don Cowie's side to just three points with two games remaining."Our character has been questioned a few times and rightly so," Watt told BBC Scotland."I've been in the changing room for three or four months now and I've never once seen the lads heads drop or anybody throw a towel in or give up."Everybody's fighting and everybody wants to get the club out of this situation."Today was do or die and we've shown an enormous amount of mental strength to get over the line."St Johnstone's next step is a trip to face managerless Hearts on Wednesday. Watt's winner delivers fresh hope that they can produce an unlikely escape and finish the season off bottom place."People are doubting us, but it's all irrelevant," he said. "It's all outside noise. As long as we know within the the changing room that we can get out of this situation."I said it to to a couple of lads during the week that if we can just win, the belief that gives us going into Wednesday, it's enormous. "It gives us a confidence that we probably haven't had for a while. We can't get too carried away. This means nothing today if we don't go back it up at Hearts with a result."
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Saints 'can pull off the great escape' or 'playing for their future in the Championship'?
We asked for your views on St Johnstone's 2-1 win against Ross County. Here's what some of you said: Ellie: One of the most stressful matches I have sat through as a Saints fan (especially the VAR check, one of a slim amount to go our way this season) but a well deserved win - Elliot Watt and Josh McPake were outstanding. Let's hope we can take this form through to the end of the season as our job is far from done. Jimmy: We had numerous chances to score, reason being we didn't. Could be 'match rustiness'? The chance County had, they took well and deserved it. We didn't let our heads down, we knew what we had to do. We did get lucky with the disallowed County goal. Defence frailties are still there, but I still have faith in the players we have. Hopefully, we can get a defender that's fit enough for the run in. Robin: It's always the hope that gets you! A good performance, but without someone taking these clear chances it is just prolonging the life support. It is not nice wanting Dundee to win a game, as we now need them to on Wednesday, but it's better that than being without hope. Linsey: Much better, but cant help feeling it's come too late, finally saw a bit of wing work by McPake which we are badly needing as a team. We need to actually start using all of the pitch and open up our game at home. All the players played for the badge for once, they can pull off the great escape and leave everyone else in this league scratching their heads and saying 'how on earth did those jammy farmers from Perth manage that one?' Dunc: Saints were up for the battle, but they were all mostly playing for their futures in the Championship. Not sure who should be retained, or want to go. We are gone, but if we recruit well we might not be down too long. That could though, be wishful thinking!
BBC News
11-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Saints 'can pull off the great escape' or 'playing for their future in the Championship'?
We asked for your views on St Johnstone's 2-1 win against Ross what some of you said:Ellie: One of the most stressful matches I have sat through as a Saints fan (especially the VAR check, one of a slim amount to go our way this season) but a well deserved win - Elliot Watt and Josh McPake were outstanding. Let's hope we can take this form through to the end of the season as our job is far from We had numerous chances to score, reason being we didn't. Could be 'match rustiness'? The chance County had, they took well and deserved it. We didn't let our heads down, we knew what we had to do. We did get lucky with the disallowed County goal. Defence frailties are still there, but I still have faith in the players we have. Hopefully, we can get a defender that's fit enough for the run It's always the hope that gets you! A good performance, but without someone taking these clear chances it is just prolonging the life support. It is not nice wanting Dundee to win a game, as we now need them to on Wednesday, but it's better that than being without Much better, but cant help feeling it's come too late, finally saw a bit of wing work by McPake which we are badly needing as a team. We need to actually start using all of the pitch and open up our game at home. All the players played for the badge for once, they can pull off the great escape and leave everyone else in this league scratching their heads and saying 'how on earth did those jammy farmers from Perth manage that one?'Dunc: Saints were up for the battle, but they were all mostly playing for their futures in the Championship. Not sure who should be retained, or want to go. We are gone, but if we recruit well we might not be down too long. That could though, be wishful thinking!
Press and Journal
10-05-2025
- Sport
- Press and Journal
St Johnstone 2-1 Ross County: Don Cowie reaction and three talking points as seventh straight loss sets up crunch Dundee encounter
Ross County's perilous position intensified as they fell to a seventh straight loss against bottom side St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park. The Staggies are now just three points above the Perth side, whose 2-1 triumph breathes new life into their own survival efforts. All of a sudden, the Staggies are very much looking over their shoulder as they approach the final two matches of the season. Fortuitously, County still have the opportunity to go above 10th-placed Dundee if they can pull out a victory in their next match at Dens Park on Wednesday. Given the dire run, which has seen Don Cowie's men fail to pick up a single point since their home win over Kilmarnock on March 1, the Staggies will go into the crunch encounter seriously bereft of confidence. We look at three talking points from a disappointing day at McDiarmid Park. As important goals rank this season, Welsh forward Samuel's second of the season in the final stages of the first half should have ranked highly among them. The Staggies found themselves in a losing position just after the half-hour mark in Perth, after Daniels Balodis' header from an Elliot Watt corner crept in off the underside of the crossbar. Mercifully for the Staggies, they were able to restore parity at a crucial time just four minutes before the interval through a well-worked goal. Josh Nisbet capitalised on a loose pass in the Saints midfield before picking out Kieran Phillips out wide, and his cross was clinically turned home at the near post by Alex Samuel. The timely leveller ought to have given County the impetus to grasp the game in the second half, knowing they had the opportunity to remove the threat of automatic relegation had they claimed the win. The Dingwall men allowed Saints to gain a grip of the match in the early stages of the second period however, with Saints forwards Adama Sidibeh and Uche Ikpeazu missing gilt-edged chances before Elliot Watt bundled home what proved to be the winner on the hour mark. That proved to be the main frustration for Cowie, who said: 'That's the real disappointing part. 'We got a really good equaliser. We go in at half-time and there's a real vibrancy in the dressing room, that we can go on and win this game after getting an equaliser. 'I thought we started the second half really well on the front foot, but then we took that step back. 'St Johnstone have got really good players that can hurt you, and we probably had 10-minute spell where we didn't get high enough, and we allowed them to put balls in our box.' The Staggies looked like they had secured an equaliser with eight minutes remaining when Ronan Hale turned home after Will Nightingale had nodded down a Zac Ashworth corner. A VAR check ultimately ruled it out for offside however, with Cowie adding: 'From the clip I've seen, it's very tight, but I've not seen the VAR side of it. I've just said to the group, there's no point feeling sorry for ourselves, because I certainly am not going to.' Cowie made a switch to a back-four for the first time in several weeks, which brought about a recall for Nightingale. It was the Englishman's first outing since a 6-0 loss to Rangers on August 24, following a long injury lay-off. Although his second season-long loan spell has been a highly frustrating one, which has brought about just five appearances, Nightingale's experience could yet still make him a major asset for the Staggies ahead of a crucial upcoming week. County will be further depleted in defensive numbers following the late dismissal of Zac Ashworth for foul and abusive language – making Nightingale's return a timely one. Dundee's 3-2 defeat to Kilmarnock means the Dark Blues remain only two points ahead of County, ahead of Wednesday's encounter between the two sides. Despite their seven-match losing streak, it remarkably means the Staggies can put themselves into the driving seat for guaranteed survival with one game to play, by claiming all three points at Dens Park. Conversely, a defeat to Tony Docherty's side would mean the Staggies would be consigned to a relegation play-off at best – with a live threat of automatic relegation. Cowie knows now is the time for his side to deliver, adding: 'It's still in our own hands. It shouldn't be, in terms of the run of form that we've been in, but that's the carrot that we've got in terms of the next two games. 'But I can't keep saying it. We have to go and act upon it and win a game of football, and that starts on Wednesday. 'It'll be a difficult game, but I'll be there, I'll be ready and I'll be fighting for this football club.' (3-4-3): Fisher 6; Sprangler 6, Balodis 7, Douglas 6; Curtis 6, Watt 8, Steven 7; Sidibeh 6, Ikpeazu 7 (Kirk 74), McPake 6 (Griffith 88). Subs not used: Sinclair, Clark, Carey, Kucheriavyi, Duke-McKenna, Kimpioka. (4-4-2): Amissah 6; Wright 6, Lopata 6 (Campbell 73), Nightingale 6, Ashworth 5; Phillips 6 (White 66), Randall 6, Nisbet 6, Harmon 6 (Smith 73); Samuel 7, Hale 6. Subs not used: Ross, Brown, Tomkinson, Efete, Robesten, Kenneh. John Beaton 4,355 Elliot Watt
