Starting four games in a fortnight hasn’t been a gentle reintroduction to Scottish football for Sean Goss.
But the St Johnstone midfielder believes the hectic spell of action will serve him well for the rest of his loan spell in Perth.
“There’s no time to ease yourself in when you come to a club on a loan,” said the QPR man.
“I’ve missed a lot of football and playing games is the most important thing, and hopefully helping the team finish in the top six.
“I’ve settled in well. I knew what this club was about and I’m happy to be back playing football.
“We’ve had a few games against Celtic and Rangers. It’s been a tough schedule but they’re the games you want to be playing – and Aberdeen tomorrow is another one.
“I’ve had a good week’s training after a busy spell and hopefully tomorrow will be another 90 minutes under my belt.”
Goss added: “Aberdeen are a good side. There are a lot of good sides in this league. We’ll be making sure we play our own game, though, and hopefully that will see us get three points.
“We had a good performance at Ibrox and it was good to get a point after the tough run we’d had.”
Manager Tommy Wright revealed that Tony Watt is available, with Michael O’Halloran a doubt.
He said: “They have quality all over the park. Derek (McInnes) has built a squad with a lot of good players.
“Their away form has been good this season. They know how to win matches.
“You don’t finish second in the league so many times and get to so many cup finals without having plenty about you.
“So we know we’ll have to be at the top of our game to get points this weekend.
“We have done well against them this season. Last year we didn’t, but this time round I have been happier with our performances.”
Meanwhile, Wright has felt compelled to come to the defence of Scottish referees yet again.
And the Northern Irishman has scoffed at the idea of recruiting foreign officials for the Premiership.
“I don’t know where this foreign referee thing came from because the SFA didn’t discuss it,” said Wright.
“It hasn’t been discussed at any level.
“I have heard people say we should bring in refs from Wales and Northern Ireland.
“I speak to friends back home every week who manage in the Irish league and they complain about their officials too.
“We have been lucky enough to play in Europe a few times and some of the refs we’ve had were terrible.
“I remember Steven Anderson being forearm smashed in the face and ending up with a depressed cheekbone – and the ref booked HIM as he was being taken off by the doctor.
“We have come back from European games thinking ‘wow, we’re glad we’ve got the refs we’ve got’ because they’ve been so poor.”
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Wright added: “Celtic have had a bad decision go against them on Thursday night and that ruined the game for them in Valencia. That was a foreign ref.
“If that was a Scottish official making that decision against Celtic he would have been crucified. Mistakes happen whether you have a foreign ref or not.
“And all this stuff about our domestic refs cheating teams and stuff. It’s mind-blowing some of the rubbish people are coming out with.
“I feel sorry for them because they’re being battered from pillar to post right now.
“It’s beyond a joke what’s gone on this season. It feels like there is a vendetta against the Scottish referees.
“You get the impression there are people out there willing them to fail.”
Wright had hoped that a line was drawn in the sand after a recent meeting at McDiarmid Park.
“After the managers’ meeting it was agreed we would tone down the criticism and work together with the officials to improve it,” he said.
“The refs admitted there have been mistakes but I think we’re now at the stage where the hysteria is so big we’re looking for 100% perfect games from them.
“The meeting threw up VAR as something that could help the officials and that’s being looked into.
“I heard people saying it should be brought in immediately.
“But it can’t happen overnight. IFAB say you have to have it up and running in the background for a year before it goes live.
“Do you think they’re going to throw their rulebook out and make an exception for Scotland? Come on.
“I’m sure the officials are at their lowest ebb at the moment because of all the criticism they’re getting from so many angles.
“I haven’t been a saint when it comes to criticising refs in the past but I have made an effort over the last year to 18 months to step back from it.”
