MACCA: Wecan’t focuson Europe

Steven MacLean admits Perth players can’t afford to think about European football just yet.

And instead the experienced striker is initially focused on booking St Johnstone another place in the upper tier of the Scottish Premiership after a positive start to the season.

Once that is achieved, then attention can be turned to chasing down a place in Europe.

“It would be lovely but first and foremost we need to consolidate our top six spot and from there, see what happens,”said MacLean.

“A cup run would be nice too, which starts in January.

“Europe would be great but I don’t think any of us are looking that far ahead yet.

“It’s been a decent start and we probably could have had a few more points on the board. The second part of the season we want to kick on and take our season to a new level.

“I don’t think our performances have been too bad.

“Sometimes it’s just a little bit of luck here and there and a couple of individual errors.

“We want to improve our home form.”

MacLean is hoping fellow forward Chris Kane can build on his goal against Hearts before the international break.

“Chris has probably been unfortunate with goals and should be sitting on more,” MacLean said.

“He came on against Hearts and made an impact.

“Now he’ll be looking to kick on and hopefully he can.

“He’s a young player so if he

can get a run of games then hopefully he’ll get some goals under his belt.”

Offering assistance to the younger members of the squad is a role which MacLean enjoys.

And he knows there is plenty of talent ready to make their mark on the first team.

He said:“When the young guys are on loan it’s important they experience what it is like to play proper football.

“When people are playing to pay their mortgages.

“It’s great experience for them and when they come back it’s important to work hard and show the manager that they have been learning.

“The older ones won’t be around forever and it’s important the young boys come back and push to get in the team.

“They have great ability and now need to put it in place and keep learning.”