Dods set for new Saints deal

St Johnstone manager Sandy Clark hopes defender Darren Dods is the first of many players to be tied down to the ambitious club on long-terms deals.

The 25-year-old former Hibernian star has signed a new deal keeping him at the cash-strapped Perth outfit until 2004.

But the McDiarmid Park boss is now hoping that they can keep more of their players and illustrate that they can compete with Scotland's bigger clubs.

Clark said: "Darren has signed a new contract for us and Keigan Parker also signed a new deal with us recently.

"This shows that we are going in the right direction and no longer need to sell players to stay in the Scottish Premier League.

"Darren's commitment has never once been in doubt and he is the type of player who is tough, steady and typifies our team spirit.

"I would now like to think that we can compete with any club in the SPL in terms of keeping our best players and bringing youngsters through.

"We will now try to get the other players at this club signed up on new contracts as time goes by."

Clark's side were knocked out of their stride last week after going down 2-0 at second-placed Hibernian after stringing together a decent run of results.

But they still maintained their sixth-place position in the table and the St Johnstone manager is looking for his side to bouncing back at home to Motherwell tomorrow and establish another run before the winter break.

Clark added: "We lost last week, but we were reasonably happy with the way we did although Hibernian played very well and justified their league position.

"We have now got to bounce back tomorrow and there are about five sides behind us who are gunning for the top six places so it is a vitally important game for ourselves and Motherwell."

Motherwell manager Billy Davies admits the Fir Park side will have to play at their best if they are to take any points from St Johnstone.

But he insists his side will go all out for a win despite playing away from home.

Just three points separate the two teams and Davies insists he is determined to catch Saints in the top half of the table.

And he believes piling the pressure on the St Johnstone goal on Saturday can push Motherwell towards their goals of a top six place.

He said: "It's a very difficult match, St Johnstone are doing very well and we've got to go up there and have a huge percentage of our players playing at their best to go and get a result.

"It's one we're looking forward to. There's only four games left so we have to try to pick up as many points as we can between now and the break and hopefully put ourselves in a decent position.

"Our away form has been pleasing for us over the last couple of years - not only this season - but I don't think that will have any bearing on Saturday's game.

"It's still a very tough match and I'm sure that Sandy will have them fired up after the Hibs result.

"So it's a game that we've got to go into and be prepared to work very hard and hopefully get the right breaks at the right time, which is the difference in the Premier Division.

"I don't think there's any point in going away and trying to defend. I think we've got to go and try and win the match.

"That's the type of squad that we've got. We've got a number of players who can cause problems so you've definitely got to allow them to go and do what they're good at.

"We'll certainly be encouraging one or two people to go and play to the best of their ability with regards to putting pressure on St Johnstone's goal.

"At the same time, we know we've got to defend well this weekend because they'll obviously come at us and try to have a go at us."