There were plenty of things to relish about St Johnstone’s weekend victory over Kilmarnock.
The performance of Bozo Mikulic on his first start for the club was right up there.
The Croatian defender was an assured presence at the heart of the Saints defence against Kilmarnock.
Despite being short of match fitness, the 27-year-old barely put a foot wrong while lending a new-found composure to the Perth side’s rear guard.
Having worked with Mikulic previously at FK Auda in Latvia, Simo Valakari had an idea of what to expect from the 6’4″ stopper.
And the Saints manager, who picked out five of Mikulic’s strengths, and one area for improvement, also knows how much more is to come as the new recruit gets used to the requirements of the Scottish Premiership.
“I had my expectations of Bozo because I have worked with him before,” Valakari said.
“But you never know until someone steps out there how they’ll handle Scottish football because it’s a special league and you need special attributes to be successful here.
“I think you saw against Kilmarnock that he brings a calmness to the defending.
“He was strong in his duels, his positioning was good and he’s good on the ball.
“He can pass the ball out of defence well.
“Bozo still needs to get his match fitness because that was his first game for a long time, so he will continue to progress.
“I was happy with him and hopefully he goes on further from here.
“We defended well as a team and of course, the game on Sunday against Rangers will be a difficult test.”
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