Davidson surprised and happy to have old pal Beattie at McDiarmid Park

CALLUM Davidson was stunned when former Preston and Scotland team-mate Craig Beattie turned up at Perth.

The veteran St Johnstone defender expected the striker to be a man in demand after a successful stint with Hearts last term, but now Davidson is backing Beattie to fill a vacuum created by the departure of Spanish forward Francisco Sandaza to Rangers.

"I played with Craig when I was at Preston and I think he will be a great acquisition for us," said the left-back. "He is a clever player and can do all sorts. He is not just a runner, he is a good finisher.

"Craig is a big signing for us and to be honest, I was a bit surprised when I found out he was joining.

"If he can stay fit and get a run of games, he will be an unbelievable player for us this season. The gaffer seems to get the best out of players.

"I'm not sure where Craig is with his match fitness, but if he was thrown in at the deep end against Aberdeen, I don't think it would faze him. It would be hard for him but he has loads of experience.

"A lot may depend on what system the manager chooses to play as it would be a really hard shift for him if he was to play up front on his own. I'm sure the gaffer will make the decision that he sees fit."

Aberdeen winger Jonny Hayes has overcome a bout of food poisoning which rendered him less than fully fit when he turned out against Celtic and Ross County in successive weeks when only one point was gained, courtesy of a goalless draw against County.

Hayes's confidence was boosted when he niggled at Paul Scholes before dispossessing the England midfielder and scoring in the Neil Simpson testimonial game against Manchester United in midweek and he hopes such finishing will be evident in Perth this afternoon.

The Irish winger's move from Inverness Caledonian Thistle to Pittodrie in the close season was seen by Craig Brown, the Aberdeen manager, as a major coup, but he bemoaned an inability of his team to conclude the scoring chances created against Ross County.

"Everything is going OK in terms of the football," Hayes said, "but we are just not quite there yet finishing-wise. We have been lacking the ability to put the ball into the back of the net so that is what we have to do at Perth. If the goals start going in then that will be fine. I didn't realise quite how much we dominated last week until I watched the game back.

"I like to think that when we start to click in front of goal then it will all fall into place, but that doesn't always happen as we saw at Inverness last season.

"Injuries really hit the team badly back then and it took us the best part of four or five months for it to start going well.

"I think we have got a strong enough squad at Aberdeen not to notice one or two injuries, so the more games we play the better we will become."

Taken from the Herald