ST JOHNSTONE’s lack of goals has cost them some valuable points this season. 

The Perth club have now suffered four 1-0 defeats and in each of those games Callum Davidson’s side have arguably been the better team on the pitch. 

Saints’ new 3-5-2 system has resulted in the McDiarmid Park outfit recording the most chances created in the Scottish Premiership outside the Old Firm, so confidence is still high that the goals will start to flow. 

Latest signing Craig Bryson has watched on from afar this campaign, after starting the season with Derek McInnes’ Aberdeen. But after witnessing the free-flowing football that his new club had to offer, the 33-year-old was keen to pen a deal as soon as Davidson came calling. 

Bryson has experienced plenty goal droughts during a career that has seen him play over 500 games for both club and country, but he also knows how quickly things can change. 

“All it takes is one shot to go in from anyone and that turns things around for you,” Bryson told Herald and Times Sport. 

“I remember at Derby we hadn’t scored for four games before playing Nottingham Forest in a derby game. We went into it without a goal in a long time but went out and beat them 5-0 that day.  

“I got a hat-trick and the fans there will speak to me about it to this day. It was unbelievable, it’s a huge game - you get 30,000-odd fans packing the stadium out.  

“So that was a great memory from my time there and it just shows how things can pan out. We came off the back of four games without a goal thinking ‘we have Forest next, we need to get our finger out’ and by half-time we were 3-0 up.  

“After that game we went on a run and ended up in the play-off final. What you have to do is stay confident and keep doing the right things.  

"If you watch the games we’re getting into good positions and it will turn in our favour. As the gaffer said, if you are playing badly and losing you need to be worried - but that’s not the case.” 

Bryson missed last weekend’s match against Ross County due to illness, but after a full week of training the former Kilmarnock man is in contention as Saints travel to Livingston tomorrow. 

He continued: “I felt a bit ill at the start of the week with an upset stomach but with everything going on you don’t want to come in and be around people.  

“That’s the first thing you think these days, you don’t know what it is and what it could be. I’m just glad to get in and get going now, I can’t wait to get playing.  

“I’m fit and ready, raring to go after what happened last season. That was something new in my career, I’ve played a lot of games in my career and have never been out for that long before.  

“We have got to the bottom of it now, the ankle injury was hurting other areas of my body because it was making be run differently. But thankfully now I am able to get out there pain-free. 

“I want to push on now and get back to doing what I enjoy. I want to play with a smile on my face in the last few years of my career.” 

On the threat of Livi, Bryson added: “I’ve not played at Livingston since I came back up the road but watched Aberdeen there and it’s always a difficult place to go.  

“They are a good side and we know it’s going to be difficult to get the three points.  

“We are playing good football and creating chances, it’s just not going our way at the moment. It would be nice to bring goals because everyone has to contribute on that front.”