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St Johnstone striker Adama Sidibeh reveals deadly finishing prowess was honed as youth goalkeeper

The Saints hit man opened his account for the Perth side with a spectacular overhead kick against Dundee.

Adama Sidibeh: The St Johnstone striker started his football journey at the other end of the pitch. Image: SNS
Adama Sidibeh: The St Johnstone striker started his football journey at the other end of the pitch. Image: SNS

Adama Sidibeh has spectacularly demonstrated that he possesses the killer instinct in front of goal that’s been so sorely lacking from St Johnstone’s season.

That overhead kick against Dundee saw Sidibeh transfer lethal skills, that had been impressing teammates and coaching staff for weeks in training, to the thick of Premiership battle.

Craig Levein will now hope it’s a sign he can go some way towards replicating his ridiculous scoring statistics from English non-league football in the Scottish Premiership.

Yet if he is a natural-born finisher, then Sidibeh did a sterling job of hiding it for so long.

For the Gambian reveals that only after giving up a promising goalkeeping career at the age of 16 did this innate talent become obvious.

Ryan McGowan (centre) and Nicky Clark (right) race to catch Adama Sidibeh after his first St Johnstone goal. Image: SNS

Sidibeh, 25, explained: “I started playing football when I was young in Africa, playing for Soccer Boys.

“I was a goalkeeper before and then one day I went up front, started scoring goals and that made me change my position.

“That happened when I was 16. Things went well, I moved to a team in the First Division (Marimoo) as a striker and since then I have always played there.

“Everyone told me I had to stay up front because of the number of goals I was scoring. So that was the best decision!”

The late developer could turn out to be the saviour of St Johnstone’s season.

Despite missing large chunks of the campaign out injured, Nicky Clark remains the club’s top league scorer on six goals – double the haul of nearest challenger Max Kucheriavyi.

Clark is clearly the best experienced foil for Sidibeh’s raw game and his fitness has been nursed along lately to ensure he’s in prime shape to play every game of the run-in.

Nicky Clark (centre) celebrates with goal-scorer Adama Sidibeh (left) and Ryan McGowan (right) during St Johnstone’s defeat to Dundee. Image: SNS

Flashes of a productive partnership are desperately required as Saints’ paltry return of 22 goals from 31 league games is the second worst in the section and considerably poorer than other bottom six rivals.

Levein certainly didn’t turn to a tried and trusted source of top flight goals when seeking a January window striker signing.

Sidibeh was snapped up from Warrington Rylands in England’s Northern Premier League.

He was scoreless in three starts and four substitute appearances before that acrobatic and athletic effort in Saturday’s 2-1 Tayside derby loss.

Sidibeh said: “I had been dreaming about my first goal for St Johnstone so, when it happened, it was a great and happy moment – especially giving the fans what they wanted.

“They’ve been waiting for a goal from me so it was nice to score one – and especially in front of my family too.

Adama Sidibeh (right) beats Graham Carey (left) in a training sprint. Image: Graeme Hart/PPA

“My confidence is back again so now I’ll hopefully keep banging them in.

The performance against Dundee was good but it was just one of those days.

“We played well and deserved at least a point. We just have to keep going, though, keep working smart and hopefully picking up wins.”

Saints will hope to shrug off the form of six defeats in eight matches when away to Hibernian on Saturday.

Flirting with relegation play-off trouble has become familiar in three tough campaigns for the club but, for Sidibeh, Perth appears to be a great platform for advancing his career.

He entertains ambitions of playing senior international football for Gambia and the striker, whose father is originally from Preston, said: “I trained with the Gambia U17 team when I was younger.

“My dream now is to represent the national team and I hope, by moving to St Johnstone, I can do that.

“There has been interest from back home. I have spoken to some journalists who have called me up to ask me about the move. They have told me I better not naturalise for anyone else!”

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