Steve Lomas seeks slice of luck for St Johnstone

The former West Ham and Manchester City midfielder took over from Derek McInnes last November and guided the Perth club to a European spot, albeit they have already been knocked out of the Europa League qualifiers by Turkish club, Eskisehirspor.

Lomas, whose side look forward to their Clydesdale Bank Premier League opener against Hearts at Tynecastle tomorrow, is keeping his fingers crossed that his small squad, to which he is still hoping to add, will stay clear of injuries this season.

“You need a bit of luck, there are no two ways about it,” he said. “As Terry Brown (former West Ham chairman) used to say at West Ham, give me a lucky manager before a good manager.

“We have a small squad and it is important that everyone is healthy. We learned last season that whenever we had three or four of our starters out, we struggled. “I suppose a lot of teams would say that but especially ourselves.

“Missing four or five players after the split hit us hard so we hope to get a bit of luck.

“So we are still keen to get two and three in and if we do that we will have the competition for places like we did last year.”

Lomas is expecting a tough opener in Gorgie and pays no heed to suggestions that the Tynecastle side, under new boss John McGlynn, will be weaker this season after losing players such as Ian Black, Suso Santana, Adrian Mrowiec, Stephen Elliott, Rudi Skacel, Craig Beattie, Marian Kello and David Obua.

The Northern Irishman said: “I know John, he is a very passionate and knowledgeable man. They have lost some players but they still have good players, like Driver, Templeton and Sutton, who has come back into the team with a point to prove.

“I like McGowan and you have the experience of Zaliukas and Webster and they have always had a good youth policy.”

Lomas will decide tomorrow whether to hand a competitive debut to new signing Rowan Vine, who signed for the club last week after spells with  QPR, Luton and Portsmouth in England.