St Johnstone goalkeeper Alan Mannus has hailed manager Tommy Wright for the impact he has had in his career and believes he is he right man to end the club’s 130-year wait for a trophy.

Mannus has worked with Wright at every club he has played for along with the Northern Ireland squad and feels he would not even be in Scotland enjoying such a successful career were it not for his advice and training.

Having seen Wright shape his life and career, Mannus knew he would do a good job as Saints manager when he stepped up last summer and their Scottish Cup final meeting with Dundee United today is the culmination of an incredible debut campaign.

Mannus said: “He was my goalkeeper coach when I was about 19 at Linfield. He was with me for a couple of years and then Tommy moved on elsewhere.

“Eventually I ended up moving to Shamrock Rovers where Tommy was goalkeeper coach, which was one of the main reasons I wanted to go there, to work with Tommy again.

“Tommy moved on from there after a couple of months and I ended up coming over here. And within two or three months after that, Tommy came over as assistant to Steve Lomas. So we can’t seem to get away from each other.

“He has been really influential for me. I probably wouldn’t be here now if it wasn’t for him.”

St Johnstone make their first Scottish Cup final appearance today as they aim to win the first major trophy in their 130-year history.

But their goalkeeper’s experience of finals has taught him to treat today’s Celtic Park clash just like he would any game, an approach that has served the Perth side well.

Mannus added: “The reason we’ve got there is because we’ve treated other games like every other game. It’s important that we do what we have been doing for most of the season.

“We’ve had some really good performances and if we can do that we have a good chance of winning the game.”