An impressive substitute appearance in the League Cup semi-final whetted the St Johnstone fans’ appetite to see Eetu Vertainen make his first start in blue and white.
If that doesn’t happen against Hibs tomorrow (Saturday) afternoon it will be soon after.
And team-mate Michael O’Halloran is confident the Finnish under-21 international, signed over four months ago, will be worth the wait.
“Eetu has been doing really well in training,” said O’Halloran.
“He’s big, strong, has a decent touch and can score a goal.
“He likes to put it about in training and enjoys having a physical battle with the defenders.
“He’s definitely been getting there in the last while.
Eetu Vertainen doesn’t look like a player that should’ve been sitting on the bench for the last few weeks. Looked raring to go and very energetic. Probably had the most chances in the final 15 minutes when him and Craig came on.
Need to see more of him soon
— SJFCFANS (@SJFCFANS) November 21, 2021
“We saw it with Guy (Melamed) last season.
“It takes players a while to find their feet, get used to the style of play here and get up to speed.
“It takes time to acclimatise, especially when it’s a different language. That’s difficult in itself.
“So you need to give players space to settle.
“You saw Guy improving in training and it’s been the same with Eetu. He’s getting better every week.”
Leading the line
Chris Kane is suspended for the Hibs match, with Stevie May and Glenn Middleton both injured.
And O’Halloran believes Vertainen has the skillset to be the Perth team’s number nine.
“He’s going to be important for us in leading the line,” said the former Rangers and Bolton Wanderers man. “He’s a natural striker and hopefully he will do well for us.
“Eetu is a great lad. We have a good group of boys here and he’s got involved with everyone.
“He comes in every day to work hard and has a smile on his face.
“I think he’s been enjoying it and is looking forward to getting an opportunity now, so it will be up to him to take it.”
Viv Solomon-Otabor was signed on a short-term loan in midweek.
He too could feature against Jack Ross’s side.
“Viv looked good and made an impression,” said O’Halloran.
“He looked sharp, even though he’s not played in a while, so he will be another option for the gaffer.
“He can play through the middle or on the wing, so it adds someone to the squad to help out while we’ve got so many players injured.”
Big incentive
Saints have the incentive of leapfrogging their opponents – and potentially other Premiership teams – with a victory.
“We played Hibs a lot last year and were able to come out on top,” said O’Halloran. “But the games were always close.
Shaun Rooney with another cup final goal! 😱😱@StJohnstone lead through a brilliant back post header 🔵#ScottishCup pic.twitter.com/C2ooeQcbkt
— Premier Sports (@PremierSportsTV) May 22, 2021
“They are a good side with good players. They have a lot of threats all over the park.
“We are at home so we will be looking to take the game to them and get the three points.
“We have played each other enough times for both teams to know what it’s all about.
“We put everything into last weekend and defensively we were top drawer. Celtic had a lot of the ball but we nullified them and limited them to very few shots on goal.
“But it’s about us looking at ourselves and doing better when we have the ball.
“We’ll take a lot from the way we played at Hampden, Celtic are doing really well and getting a lot of plaudits for the way they’re playing.
“But apart from the David Turnbull chance early on, there wasn’t much else.
“It took a goal that, if there was VAR it probably wouldn’t have counted, to beat us so we can take plenty from the way we set up.”
