Former St Johnstone hero Jason Scotland may be past his peak, but one of the veteran striker’s biggest fans is ex-teammate Steven Anderson.
And the Perth centre-back will be wary of the threat the Trinidad and Tobago international will carry when Saints face Hamilton Accies this afternoon.
“Jason was a great player when he was with us and he’ll still be class I reckon,” Anderson said.
“He banged in the goals for St Johnstone so we’ll have to watch him.
“People look at Jason and think he’s heavy but that’s just his natural build. He’s solid and ripped so he’s a tough guy to play against. He might look lazy at times but he’s not, he doesn’t press the ball but he works hard to get into good areas.
“He’s just a natural scorer and has good technical ability, he can hold the ball up and score goals as well.
“When he was with us he used to be very quick, I don’t know if he’ll still be as fast because it was a long time ago he played here. But he’s definitely someone we know is a real threat.
“He was a really good guy when he was at St Johnstone, he was pretty mental at times but in a good way.
“He was laid back, he didn’t like running much, but he was a really good laugh and was popular in the changing room.
“He played here at the time Trinidad and Tobago got to the World Cup and he got a lot of attention because of his name.
“Irn Bru even jumped on the back of it and he did an advert for them before it,” said Anderson.
“It will be good to see him again but hopefully we’ll be able to shut him out.
“Hamilton bounced back really well the other night so that shows the kind of character they’ve got.”
Saints may have lost 3-0 to Celtic but Anderson insisted they are a team in good form nonetheless.
“We’ve played well in the games so far but we’ve got to keep it going,” he pointed out.
“Winning at places like Hamilton and St Mirren away is what we need to do if we’re going to have another good season.
“The lads are confident we can do it again this year but you need to pick up points from these tricky away games for it to happen.”
Anderson didn’t need telling that it was his mistake that cost Saints their first goal against Celtic.
“I dwelled on the ball too much for the first goal so it was really disappointing,” the former Dundee United man admitted.
“It was a good tackle from Kris Commons but I should have dealt with it much quicker so I have to put my hands up.
“It turned into a really disappointing night for us with Dave Mackay getting sent off and losing three goals. I’ve seen the incident again and I’d like to think it will get rescinded.
“He’s (Derk Boerrigter) dived a couple of steps later, that’s when he’s decided to go down. The linesman hasn’t given it and I think the referee has gambled on the decision a bit.
“I can understand it because with the position he was in, you’d ask why he didn’t stay on his feet.
“He could have got a shot on target so the ref has probably thought that if there wasn’t any contact then why wouldn’t he try to score?
“So the ref has gambled a wee bit on it and the TV pictures show that Dave didn’t do anything. Once he’s made that decision he’s got to send him off.”
Anderson had sympathy for his captain, and for all fellow defenders who suffer from the ‘if he touches me in the box I’ll go down’ epidemic.
He said: “Being a defender is definitely getting harder because you know that any contact in the box means strikers will go down.
“They’ve changed the offside rule so even more is geared towards the forward players.
“If I make a mess of a clearance and the guy is offside, he’s through on goal now.
“So being a defender gets more difficult all the time. What you’re able to do is getting less and less.
“Defending is being taken out of the game and with strikers the way they are, as soon as you touch someone they’ll go down.
“The one thing is the video evidence, they’ve said they’ll go back and look at them now.
“So they can change their minds on red cards and even punish people if they think they’ve dived.
“It doesn’t change the result but if people know they’re going to get punished it might be a small deterrent.”