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Sam McClelland: St Johnstone showed they are on the right track

The Northern Irishman believes the performance against Stirling Albion has been put behind them as new signings do their bit in Hearts game.

St Johnstone defender Sam McClelland.
St Johnstone defender Sam McClelland. Image: SNS.

Sam McClelland watched the Stirling Albion horror show unfold from the stand.

But, having made his debut in the Premiership against Hearts seven days later, the Northern Irishman is confident that the real St Johnstone has emerged.

And that the growing strength of the Perth squad will be shown in results and points sooner rather than later.

“I’m still getting fully up to speed but hopefully I can build on that debut,” said the 21-year-old former Chelsea centre-back.

“From a team point of view there were plenty of positives for us to build on as well.

“Everyone knows the results in the cup weren’t great but I could see in training this week that we have good players here.

“The ones being brought in will add to that too.

“It’s going to be a long season and I’m sure we’ll do well.

“I think everyone could see it was so much better.

“We’ve lost the game but the match was definitely something to build on.”

Sam McClelland straight in the deep end

There were three summer signings in the Saints’ starting line-up, with another two coming off the bench.

Three of those five only had their deals officially confirmed at the back end of last week.

“Myself and Dare (Olufunwa) have gone straight in,” said McClelland.

“Jephs (Luke Jephcott) is still fairly new and Matty (Smith) only arrived on Friday.

“There are a lot of us still getting to know our team-mates and how we play.

St Johnstone's Sam McClelland in action.
Lawrence Shankland and St Johnstone’s Sam McClelland in action. Image: SNS.

“That’s not an overnight thing. It will take a bit of time.

“But good players can make it happen quicker.

“As a team we want quality players to keep coming in because it pushes each other and makes the team better.”

McClelland was as impressed with goalkeeper, Dimitar Mitov, as the Saints fans.

“Dimi pulled off a couple of really good saves,” he said.

“As a centre-back it’s great to have a goalkeeper of his quality behind me.

“That relationship will build as the games go on and we get to know each other’s games.”

Sam McClelland’s chat with ex St Johnstone manager

Saturday’s game was an arm wrestle of a contest and McClelland believes one lesson learned stands above the rest from a Perth perspective.

“When we have periods of dominance – like we did in the first half – it’s about translating that into goals,” he said.

“Hearts took their chance that fell to them.

“Football is about both boxes – taking them at one end and stopping them at the other.”

Steven MacLean mentioned that Tommy Wright had been an important middle-man in McClelland’s transfer.

And the defender confirmed that the ex-Saints manager’s sales pitch was a persuasive one.

“I spoke to Tommy a couple of days before I came up.

“He was obviously here for a long time and he spoke very highly about the club.

“It was all positive and good for me to hear when I was doing my homework.”

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