When it comes to scoring hat-tricks, Chris Kane couldn’t have had a better role model than Stephen Dobbie.
The St Johnstone striker believes he has benefitted hugely from playing alongside the veteran Queen of the South forward in his recent loan spell at Palmerston.
And it would appear that some of the stardust has rubbed off.
Dobbie has bagged three hat-tricks already this season and Kane has now got in on the act with the first of his career against Albion Rovers to send Saints through to the last 16 of the cup.
The 23-year-old paid tribute to his Dumfries mentor, as well as a couple of other attackers who have been a big influence on his career so far.
“Stephen’s some player,” he said. “He scores for fun and he got another hat-trick on Saturday.
“I learned a lot from him, even in training. He spoke to me a lot and worked on small movements and finishing. It was good to be at Queens with Stephen.
“I want to listen to every striker I play with. I was also with James McFadden too and he was a big help. The same with Macca (Steven MacLean) here.”
Kane’s three goals on Monday night came against League One defenders but there was no denying the quality of his two volleys – nor the belief that he now has in himself.
Loans deal can make or break a young player’s future at his parent club and for Kane it appears to be the former.
“Tommy (Wright) took me aside into his office and spoke to me and said it’s not anything negative, it’s all positive,” he recalled.
“He just wanted me for me to be playing games and scoring goals and Queens gave me the chance to do that. So when I came back here I can go back into the team and try and stay in it. So I felt it was a positive move.
“I was delighted when the manager wanted me to come back and I was pleased to get the call to play against Albion Rovers.
“I’m over the moon with the three goals and I thought the team performance was great.
“My spell at Queen of the South helped me a lot. I scored a few goals there and that helped my confidence.
“I think as a striker, it’s all about confidence. If I am not really feeling confident then I might not be playing as well. I will keep trying my best and just keep trying to score goals.”
Time will tell if Monday night was a changing of the guard occasion but this was certainly as young a St Johnstone team as there has been for many a year.
Jason Kerr made his debut at centre-back alongside Liam Gordon, with teenagers Kyle McClean and Ali McCann getting a start and a game off the bench respectively.
“There were quite a few changes and I think you could tell we were desperate to grab the opportunity,” said Kane.
“Jason Kerr was outstanding at East Fife and Liam Gordon has been doing well. McCann has fitted in well and Kyle is some player too. So all the boys have shown they can keep up.
“It’s a tricky place to come, the pitch isn’t great, but we stuck in well and stuck to the game plan. I thought we did well.
“We have been struggling recently but there’s a great bunch of lads here and we are kicking on in training.
“I think we will be all right now. It was a good result and I think we can push on.”
