St Johnstone made it three wins out of three in pre-season by beating Arbroath 1-0 at Gayfield.
A Josh McPake goal early in the second half gave Craig Levein’s side their victory ahead of another trip to Angus next weekend when the competitive football starts in the League Cup at Brechin.
Saints dominated the contest and Benji Kimpioka should have scored when he was through one v one with the Arbroath goalkeeper early in the contest.
Graham Carey struck the bar with a free-kick and substitute Taylor Steven had a goal disallowed for offside.
But Levein will be broadly happy with what he saw, particularly with his new-look backline.
Courier Sport picks out four talking points from the final warm-up match.
Captain Trialist
It’s not often you see (c) after Trialist on a team-sheet – even in pre-season.
Saints fans don’t need to worry, though.
The fact that Kyle Cameron wasn’t officially named in the Perth starting line-up was merely a consequence of an SFA administrative delay, caused by the Notts County defender signing his season-long loan deal late on Friday.
It doesn’t look like Saints will need to worry about the former Scotland under-21 international’s qualities as a footballer either.
Making him skipper on his debut was a real show of faith by Levein.
Cameron clearly has the leadership qualities required for the job, as he wore the armband at Notts County.
He played on the left of a central defensive back three against Arbroath – with Sam McClelland in the middle and Dare Olufunwa on the right – and was the most vocal of the trio.
Cameron almost marked the occasion with an early goal but he couldn’t keep his header from a Matt Smith corner on target.
He was very composed in possession, rarely wasting a pass and being comfortable advancing into midfield to support attacking passages of play.
The most important bit when the Premiership season gets going will be how Cameron defends, though.
The 27-year-old won pretty much all his headers and duels.
On a rare occasion, late in the first half, when Arbroath launched a counter-attack, with Saints lacking numbers at the back, he showed good pace to close down Innes Murray and make sure he didn’t get a shot away.
Levein took Cameron off just before the hour-mark, replaced by youngster Liam Parker.
Both player and manager can be very happy with the 57 minutes he played.
Big gloves to fill
Cameron was an on-pitch talker but not as loud as the man behind him.
Josh Rae has the hardest act to follow in replacing last season’s player of the year, Dimitar Mitov.
What can be said with some certainty, however, is that the former Airdrie goalkeeper will be just as vocal as the Bulgarian.
Rae also made three very good saves – all within the space of a minute.
Just after the restart he dealt very well with a low driven effort on the angle from Murray, then two subsequent strikes from the middle of the box.
Barring one scuffed clearance, Rae’s distribution was on-point as well.
First goal
It wasn’t a competitive game, of course, but McPake’s confidence will be all the better for getting off the mark.
Eyebrows were raised by some when the former Rangers forward was snapped up a few weeks ago, given he played his football in League One last year.
But he took his goal nicely, slipping a low finish home seven minutes into the second half.
In the first period, McPake played a perfectly weighted pass through for Kimpioka who should have found the net and there was a lovely piece of individual skill when he sent home captain, Tom O’Brien, to the nearby circus with a drop of the shoulder on the half-way line.
Star in the making?
Aaron Essel will soon become Saints’ next signing.
The Ghana under-23 international has agreed a transfer to Perth and it only remains for the red tape to be cut through.
The 18-year-old can play at the back and in midfield and he featured as a second half trialist against Arbroath as a central midfielder.
First impressions aren’t always reliable and this was a pre-season friendly against a third tier team.
But Essel may well be a gem of a player.
He timed his tackles like a middle-of-the-park veteran, never got caught on the ball and didn’t look out of his depth physically.
The Saints supporters who made the trip to the Angus coast will surely have returned home talking about the youngster’s impressive display.
St Johnstone – Rae, Olufunwa, McClelland, Cameron (Parker, 57), Carey (trialist, 67), Wright (Franczak, 73), Kucheriavyi (trialist – Essel, 45), M Smith (McCrystal 84), Keltjens (Bright, 73), McPake (Steven, 67), Kimpioka (May 45).
Conversation