We’re a long away from the next transfer window opening up.
But St Johnstone goalkeeper Remi Matthews knows already that keeping Alex Mitchell at McDiarmid Park will be a January priority.
The on-loan Millwall centre-back was cruelly denied the kudos of securing an injury-time draw against Celtic by an even later winner for the champions.
Mitchell’s outstanding performances week on week have made him a Perth fans’ favourite.
Matthews, who has formed a strong bond with his fellow Englishman over the last few months, believes the 21-year-old has a successful career in front of him when he returns south of the border.
Just hopefully not after a winter recall to London by Lions’ boss, Gary Rowett.
𝗔𝗹𝗲𝘅 𝗠𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗹 – 𝗣𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗖𝗲𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗰 🎙#SaintsTV caught up with Alex Mitchell after he grabbed his first goal for the club.#SJFC | @spfl | @celticfc pic.twitter.com/FAEXKjfo2Y
— St. Johnstone FC (@StJohnstone) October 8, 2022
“Alex could have been the hero so I feel for him,” said Matthews.
“He’s scored against the best team in Scotland so you can’t take that away from him, even though we’re disappointed with the result.
“We came up together and were in the hotel together.
“He’s a great kid and I’ve tried to give him a bit of advice. He’s been really good.
“He’s a leader and I think people forget how young he is because he looks 40, despite being only 21.
“He’s just got to keep his head down and keep working hard and he’ll have a bright future.
“We will be desperate to keep him beyond January. It would be massive for us.
“But he’s done really well so we’ll have to see what happens.”
Team effort
Mitchell wasn’t the only Saint to shine on Saturday.
There were impressive individual displays across the pitch.
And it was a collective effort that augurs well for a successful Premiership campaign.
“I thought we were excellent,” said the Crystal Palace goalie.
“We gave the champions a tough game, one of the toughest they’ve had this season, and it was a sore one to take in the end.
“We have to take the positives because if we keep playing like that, with that commitment and passion on the pitch, this team has an exciting future.
“It’s difficult straight after the game when you have a disappointment like that but we have to look at the good points.
“Even when you score late on like that against Celtic you know it’s still going to be anxious because they are a top class team.
“You know they will be the ones putting pressure on you. It’s one of those, that on another day it might have been different.
“We had a few chances, hit the post and probably deserved something from the game.
“In the end, we didn’t get anything and now we have to dust ourselves down for playing Livingston.”
Matthews added: “We had a tough game on Wednesday against Kilmarnock and needed a reaction from that – and we got it.
“I felt a good vibe going into the game. We felt good about ourselves and if we keep going like that we have a hell of a chance of doing well this year.
“If you look at the games we have played, even when we’ve lost it has usually been by a single goal.
“We have been unlucky in some games, especially really early in the season when we could have picked up a few points.
“But I feel we are in a great place at the moment and we’ll take confidence from this game.”
No Drey blame game
“You can’t point fingers at anyone,” he said.
“It’s not just Drey’s fault. We could have dealt with the cross better and we could have had someone on the front post.
“Drey will probably look back and think he could maybe have kicked it out then went down, but that’s hindsight.
“I thought Drey was excellent the whole game and it’s just one we have to learn from as a group and as a team.”
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