WE ARE READY

Craig Ritchie

Cammy Smith admits the current St Mirren crop bares little similarity to the side that last travelled to Pittodrie six months ago.

But he insists the side built by Alan Stubbs have every chance of faring better than the XI dumped out the Scottish Cup in January.

A summer of transition as seen St Mirren transformed from top to bottom, with comings and goings happening near enough every week, while Stubbs has also replaced Jack Ross in the Saints dugout.

Smith, skipper Stephen McGinn and keeper Craig Samson are the remains of a handful of bodies in the Saints side – but the midfielder admits he was always braced for change come the summer.

Smith said: “There might only be a handful of players who played back in January who feature this week.

“We knew it would be a summer of change because we were coming up a league and boys would have moved on regardless who was in charge.

“You get used to changes and the manager has brought in new faces and whoever is on the park will be doing their best for the club.

“It’ll be a tough game. We had them in the cup last season and got a poor result.

“This time it’s Premiership V Premiership and we have to try and get the result we want.

“We deserve to be in the Premiership after last season but we now need to prove it by having a good season.

“We had a good win at Dundee and then Ibrox was tough, but it was decent enough start.

“We’ll have a plan for Aberdeen and try to put it in place. There’s no reason why we can’t get a result.”

Smith faces a return to his home city this weekend as he returns to Pittodrie having spent his formative years in the Dons youth system.

Having moved to Paisley 12 months ago on a permanent deal – following an initial six-month loan stint – Smith admits it was the best decision he could have made.

He added: “I’d come to a crossroads and was maybe a bit more impatient than I needed to be.

“I was chapping the manager’s door and wanting to play and I look back now and think I could have been patient.

“The lads at 19 now are waiting to play but I was impatient at that age.

“We came to an agreement to let me go and I had a boss here who had faith in me. We won the league last season and now I aim to kick on in the Premiership.

“Jack Ross and Derek McInnes had a good relationship and that started things off. When I came down to meet Jack, the way he was was with me helped and I haven’t really looked back.”