St Johnstone finished their pre-season with a 3-2 win against Championship part-timers Cove Rangers.
A late Graham Carey goal, converting a rebound from a long-range shot from youngster Taylor Steven that came back off the bar, settled the contest.
Melker Hallberg and Theo Bair had scored before that.
Courier Sport picks out four talking points as the League Cup now looms large.
Wee Max shines
Callum Davidson has made a couple of signings for forward positions with seriously impressive pedigree.
If Jamie Murphy and Carey can get close to their form of previous seasons, they’ll both do very well for St Johnstone.
You could make an argument, however, that there is another creative player Saints fans were even more excited to see in this pre-season friendly.
And he was already on the books – Max Kucheriavyi.
Davidson has made no secret of the fact he has high hopes for the young Ukrainian who helped Kelty Hearts win League Two in the second of his short spells away from McDiarmid Park.
Playing in the wide right position of the two behind a striker, the 20-year-old certainly couldn’t be accused of looking to take the safe option.
Unfortunately, he and Stevie May weren’t on the same wavelength when he drifted inside early on and then again with a diagonal defence-splitting pass.
It was Kucheriavyi’s direct run through the middle that resulted in Hallberg’s free-kick goal and Evan Towler was shown up when bringing him down near the centre circle just before the first half ended.
I think it’s safe to say there won’t be a third loan.
Life in the old dog yet
Towards the end of last season the system that helped keep Saints in the top flight had Murray Davidson at the base of a central midfield three.
It will be a different formation for the start of this campaign, with two central midfielders deployed.
Davidson might not have the energy of his peak years but he showed in the 45 minutes he was given that he’ll be an asset in this set-up as well.
Opta don’t do statistics for pre-season friendlies but if they did, they would have highlighted impressive distribution numbers for the 34-year-old.
Davidson barely wasted a pass.
Liam Craig’s position at the top of the Saints appearance list could yet be under threat.
Theo Bair seizes his chance
The acclimatisation period is over.
Three goals in three pre-season friendlies for Saints’ Canadian international striker tells you that.
And so did his overall contribution here.
He was introduced for the start of the second half and you could immediately understand why his manager has said that the lone centre-forward role suits him.
Bair held the ball up well, made intelligent runs and – perhaps most importantly of all – got a few shots away.
GOAL SAINTS
THEO BAIR IN THE 50TH MINUTE
2-1 SAINTS pic.twitter.com/E6uoBkah7D
— St. Johnstone FC (@StJohnstone) July 9, 2022
Adam Montgomery hitting the byeline and cutting back for the former Vancouver Whitecaps man to finish with a first-time strike put Saints 2-1 in front.
It will hopefully become a recurring theme when the real football starts in midweek.
Ready for Annan?
Saints will try to navigate their way through the League Cup group stage and use those matches to tighten up ahead of the start of the Premiership campaign on the run.
You could say the same for every other team in the competition.
The fact they don’t yet have a number one goalkeeper is a concern because, even though Elliott Parish wasn’t at fault for Cove’s two goals, he was shaky under cross balls.
And the backline has a work in progress feel to it.
With League Two opposition, Annan Athletic, first up, it’s an ideal way of easing their way into the competitive stuff.
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