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5 unsung hero St Johnstone frontmen as Uche Ikpeazu becomes latest Saints striking recruit

Perth fans appreciate an attacker who contributes more than goals.

Gregory Tade, Andy Brannigan and Cillian Sheridan were all 'team first' strikers for St Johnstone.
Gregory Tade, Andy Brannigan and Cillian Sheridan were all 'team first' strikers for St Johnstone. Images: SNS.

Uche Ikpeazu has played for some big clubs, commanded a seven-figure transfer fee and enjoyed a long career in professional football so far.

St Johnstone’s first summer signing has never had the word ‘prolific’ attached to ‘striker’ wherever he has played.

A total of 22 goals over two seasons with Cambridge United was his most productive spell.

He scored 10 for Hearts over a similar period and one for Port Vale last season.

But Craig Levein is one of many managers to appreciate the other attributes Ikpeazu lends to a team, with his ability to bring the best out in others and using his physical assets to good effect.

And at Hearts, the better the opposition, the better he played.

Edinburgh derbies, a Scottish Cup semi-final and goals against top six teams in the league were proof of that.

With Adama Sidibeh, Nicky Clark, Benji Kimpioka and Stevie May other options to play alongside Ikpeazu, the logic of recruiting the 29-year-old is clear.

Goals will be a bonus – it’s what he brings to the collective that is the real attraction.

Ikpeazu clearly feels Levein is the right manager for him and St Johnstone could well be the right club.

Their supporters know, and appreciate, a selfless centre-forward when they see one.

Courier Sport picks out five of them.


Andy Brannigan

When your time at the club coincides with the most famous player to have pulled on St Johnstone colours, Ally McCoist, and the all-time top goal-scorer at the peak of his powers, John Brogan, it’s going to be hard to stand out as a centre-forward.

But Brannigan wrote his name in the history books with an equaliser against Alloa that clinched promotion to the top-flight for Alex Rennie’s 1982/83 side.

Andy Brannigan in his St Johnstone FC kit.
Andy Brannigan. Image: SNS.

In five full seasons with Saints, he never hit double figures but Brogan summed up Brannigan as a player in the ‘Great Saints’ book.

“There was nothing fancy about Andy,” he said. “But I can’t praise him highly enough.

“He would put in a shift every time. He would challenge and get in defenders’ faces and did a lot on my behalf. He gave his all for the club in every game and we all really appreciated his efforts.”


Grant Jenkins

As with Brannigan, Jenkins was a Perthshire boy.

He played for Crieff Earngrove amateurs and Jeanfield Swifts juniors but was deep into his career by the time Saints eventually signed him for £7,000 from Dunfermline in January 1988.

The description of Jenkins in the Perthshire Advertiser on his arrival read: “Not the prettiest stylist in the game, Jenkins’ gangling runs and awkward movement have posed defenders problems in the past and Muirton fans will be hoping that is going to continue in the future.”

Grant Jenkins battles with Richard Gough in the 1989 Scottish Cup semi-final replay.
Grant Jenkins battles with Richard Gough in the 1989 Scottish Cup semi-final replay. Image: SNS.

Stevie Maskrey and Willie Watters were the main goal-scorers as Alex Totten’s team secured promotion from the third tier of Scottish football back to the second but Jenkins, with just one to his name in the run-in (on his debut), did a lot of their dirty work.

A regular in 1988/89 (and the last Saints player to score at Muirton Park), his final tally was 13 goals in 76 matches.


Cillian Sheridan

The Irishman’s one-season partnership with Fran Sandaza helped get Saints back into Europe under Derek McInnes and then Steve Lomas.

The headline-grabbing half of the McDiarmid Park SAS was undoubtedly the Spaniard, who scored 18 goals and was signed by Rangers at the end of the campaign.

Cillian Sheridan in action for St Johnstone against Celtic
Cillian Sheridan in action for St Johnstone. Image: SNS.

Sheridan only got five.

Four of those were in the league and they all came within the space of a week between the end of September and the start of October.

Speak to the duo’s team-mates, though, and they’ll tell you that Sheridan contributed just as much to a successful season as Sandaza.


Gregory Tade

The signing from Inverness Caledonian Thistle was effectively Sheridan’s replacement and produced the same goals return in the top flight – four.

He played 41 times and Saints qualified for Europe again (by finishing third in the table).

So he was doing something right.

Gregory Tade and his team-mates celebrate a goal for St Johnstone against Kilmarnock.
Gregory Tade celebrates a goal for St Johnstone against Kilmarnock. Image: SNS.

Rowan Vine and Steven MacLean were the chief beneficiaries of Tade’s power and pace.

Also like Sheridan, Tade was a bit of a football nomad and his next stop was Romania.


Chris Kane

The personification of a ‘team first’ player, Kane’s worth to the Saints cause was always evident to Tommy Wright even when others outside the club questioned it.

He developed into one of the best practitioners of hold-up play and drawing fouls in the Premiership.

Chris Kane shields the ball from a defender while playing for Saints
Chris Kane was a master at getting St Johnstone up the pitch. Image: SNS.

If he wasn’t scoring goals, he usually made sure others were.

The contribution to the cup double campaign is the stuff of club legend.

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