3 St Johnstone talking points: New Adam Webb era win was crucial, template for three centre-backs success and Aaron Essel passes test

St Johnstone got their 2024/25 season up and running with a narrow victory over Brechin City.

It was the first time the Perth side have won their first competitive game of a campaign since beating Elgin City, also in the League Cup, back in 2016.

Graham Carey scored a penalty on the stroke of half-time after quick Benji Kimpioka footwork teased Lewis Martin into a rash challenge at the edge of the penalty box.

At 1-0, ex-Jeanfield Swifts forward, Dayle Robertson passed up a glorious opportunity to pile pressure on his hometown club but didn’t make a pure connection with an Anthony McDonald cross from the left.

It was the sliding doors moment in the contest as a couple of minutes later, Kyle Cameron gave the visitors the breathing space they needed with a 25-yarder that has put down an early marker for goal of the season.

By the time Spencer Moreland pulled one back in second half injury time it was too late to give Saints serious concern.

Courier Sport picks out three talking points from the Glebe Park contest.

Job done

Saints fans would have expected more chances and more goals.

The first half came perilously close to giving up none of either.

New owner Adam Webb, who was accompanied on the trip to Brechin by minority investor Chet Arter, spoke earlier in the week of the need for “exciting” football this season and beyond.

There’s a lot of work to be done on that front.

But the Perth support still carry the scars of Stenhousemuir, Stirling Albion, Annan Athletic, Queen of the South and other early-season lower league cup embarrassments.

For obvious reasons, this is the stage of the year when teams who finished near the bottom of the Premiership the previous term are at their most vulnerable.

Had Martin not gone to ground in his one v one with Kimpioka or had Robertson scored to make it 1-1 as he should have, this would have had Stenhousemuir-esque potential.

But an opponent who presented a similar challenge to their League One Angus neighbours, Arbroath, the week before were deservedly beaten in the end.

The ramifications of another Premier Sports Cup shock involving St Johnstone didn’t bear contemplation, particularly at the dawn of a new ownership era.

Saints need to get out of this group for football, financial and psychological reasons.

Beat Morton at McDiarmid Park on Saturday and they’re very much on track to doing so.

Ball-playing centre-halves

Craig Levein has stated that he would like to sign one more centre-back.

As things stand, the combination used at Glebe Park looks like it will be the first choice one – Sam McClelland in the middle, Kyle Cameron on the left and Jack Sanders on the right.

It’s a balance of styles that should work.

McClelland is powerful in the air and comfortable engaging with a physical number nine, as was the case with both the centre-forwards Brechin used.

Cameron and Sanders will be the ones tasked with stepping into midfield and are comfortable doing so.

They’ll probably never see as much of the ball again all season so, if there were passing deficiencies, they’d have been exposed on day one.

There aren’t and they weren’t.

There is a big difference between this formation giving you domination of the ball and consistently cutting defences open, though.

That’s the big leap forward Saints need to make with this set-up. Any set-up, actually.

There’s more to it than moving the ball quicker from one side of the pitch to another but that’s certainly a big part of it.

Saints’ second goal was a template of what they need to do more often.

Sanders, Cammy Macpherson and Drey Wright played a sharp one-touch passing triangle in a tight area before the latter (also without taking a second touch) switched the angle of attack to pick out Cameron, who had taken up a position higher than the centre circle.

The captain decided to try his luck from long distance – to spectacular effect – but had he chosen a different option, half the Brechin team had been sucked in on the right half of the park and were out of the game.

Both wide centre-halves were involved in this goal and were exactly where you’d want them to be.

What others do off them will determine whether this system and this team prospers.

Essel passes a test

Webb described him a “potential rock star player” and you can see why.

Aaron Essel is 18, with the physique of a man 10 years older and all the attributes required to have a long career as a central midfielder or central defender – probably at levels higher than the Scottish Premiership.

He’ll be a better player for Saturday’s game.

The man he was directly up against, Seth Patrick, is far too good to be operating in the Highland League. Brechin will do well to keep hold of him.

Essel got a physical contest, the like of which he can expect every week.

And he was also pressured into distribution errors early in the game.

As Levein observed, he had to walk the tightrope of getting the better of Patrick with the burden of a yellow card to his name.

There was no hint of ill-discipline and football maturity was the most impressive thing about Essel’s second half display.

The Ghana under-23 international will have far higher aspirations than being part of a narrow victory over a side four tiers below his own in the Scottish football pyramid.

But, make no mistake, this was an important career stepping stone and test ultimately passed.