ST MIRREN'S Billy Mehmet believes he will improve from working with Jim Hamilton as the team prepare to host Celtic in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League this afternoon.
St Mirren manager Gus MacPherson strengthened his striker options during the January transfer window when he signed veteran striker Hamilton from Dunfermline Athletic on a deal until the end of the season.
Mehmet, the club's top goalscorer this se
ason with six goals, feels his game will benefit from playing and training alongside Hamilton, who has played for eight different SPL clubs.
He believes the extra competition for a starting berth between himself, Hamilton, Craig Dargo and Stewart Kean can only benefit the players and the club as they all need to perform to keep their place in the team.
Mehmet said: "Jim's experienced, he's played with a few SPL teams, doing well and scoring. So he's helping youngsters like myself and Stewart Kean.
"He's added strength to the team. He leads the line really well, he's good at bringing people into the game by winning flick-ons. It means there's competition for places. I want to play every game and I need to battle for a place."
Mehmet does not believe St Mirren will have an advantage when they face Celtic today at Love Street following the Scottish champions' 3-2 midweek Champions League defeat to Barcelona. But having managed to earn a draw at Parkhead earlier this season, he hopes they can take points off the SPL champions once again.
He said: "Whenever you play Celtic it'll be a hard game, whether they've played Barcelona midweek or not. They'll want to get a win but hopefully we can get a result against them.
"We managed to draw with them at Parkhead. We were one up with five minutes to go. But they equalised and although that was disappointing, it was great to get a draw as not many teams have done that this season."
Celtic's Scott McDonald, meanwhile, believes his partnership with Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink has been given a boost by the arrival of Georgios Samaras. The Greek has had to content himself with appearances off the bench since moving from Manchester City in the January transfer window.
The lanky hit-man scored as a substitute on his debut in a 5-1 Scottish Cup win over Kilmarnock at Rugby Park.
However, perhaps the most important contribution Samaras has made has been to keep the McDonald-Vennegoor of Hesselink partnership on a state of high alert. McDonald has notched five and Vennegoor of Hesselink four since the arrival of the new boy.
The Australian, who is hoping to add to his 24 goals against St Mirren today, said: "Georgios has looked very impressive since he has been here. If he wasn't fully fit when he came then he is now. All he will be asking for is more time in games but Jan and I have probably frustrated him a little bit by our performances.
"Hopefully he will be fit for the weekend and give the gaffer a headache."
STRACHAN GUS'S GOOD BUDDIEST MIRREN manager Gus MacPherson says Gordon Strachan has been one of the major influences on his career. MacPherson will look to put the knowledge he has acquired from listening to and learning from Strachan to good use when his St Mirren side face Celtic at Love Street today.
Strachan phoned MacPherson to congratulate him for keeping St Mirren in the top-flight last season and the Buddies manager always enjoys pitting his wits against the Celtic boss.
MacPherson said: "I've got the utmost respect for Gordon. He's seen how frustrated we can get at times and he's always been there with a quiet word.
"Even last season he was one of the first to phone when we stayed up."
The full article contains 642 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
