Tommy Wright thought St Johnstone fully deserved to walk away with the spoils in a 1-0 victory over Ross County at the Global Energy Stadium.

Steven MacLean flicked a downward header from Joe Shaughnessy over the line from close range for his 13th goal of the season to settle a scrappy encounter at Dingwall.

While there was little to choose between the teams the visitors created more opportunities, with Saints goalkeeper Zander Clark a virtual bystander, and manager Wright thought his side were worth all three points.

"There's no question we deserved it," he said. "We controlled the game from the first whistle. Zander Clark only had one difficult save to make from a deflection.

"I was pleased how we controlled possession. I don't think they asked too many questions and I think that was down to how we set up in the game.

"I'm really pleased to get the points against a good team, who've had a great season, at a tough place to come."

St Johnstone's win, coupled with Motherwell's loss at Aberdeen, moved them up to fourth in the Ladbrokes Scottish Premiership.

Wright hopes they can now emulate last season, where St Johnstone went unbeaten following the split and finished fourth.

He said: "There are still three games to go. We're looking to get a positive result next week. That won't put us over the line but would put us pretty close to it.

"Last season we finished the season off with games in the split where we were unbeaten, and that's pretty difficult to do.

"But we'll take each games as it comes and, hopefully, remain unbeaten between now and the end of the season."