DEFENDERS TO HIT NEW HEIGHTS – DAVIDSON

Dan Cleary and John Mahon will take their games to the next level this season, according to St Johnstone manager Callum Davidson.

Both Irish defenders had important parts to play in keeping the Perth club in the Premiership after arriving half-way through the 2021-22 campaign – the former more regularly than the latter.

But Davidson believes there’s no substitute for getting a pre-season under your belt.

And the manner in which the two centrebacks have caught the McDiarmid Park boss’s eye in Saints’ Spanish training camp has reinforced that belief.

“I always think it’s hard to move clubs in January and it takes time to get people firing properly,” said Davidson.

“We brought in quite a few permanent signings earlier in the year and I think you’ll see them really kick on for getting a pre-season.

“John Mahon and Dan Cleary, for example, will be even better for being settled here and getting that summer of work with us – they will be fitter and stronger. John has impressed us a lot and people saw what he could do when he played towards the end of the season.

“Dan did really well coming in cold in January but I always think it takes a pre-season with a club to properly get going.

“So I’m expecting to see the pair of them improve a lot this season.”

Davidson is getting everything out of the Murcia trip that he hoped he would.

“The facilities over here are excellent,” he said.

“The lads are working hard and it’s been great so far. The pitches are topclass and the weather has been great.

“It’s also good for the new players to blend in and get to know each other better.”

● Ross County have signed former Charlton Athletic left-back Ben Purrington on a two-year deal.

Purrington had been a free agent after leaving the English League One Addicks, where he made 115 appearances in three years.

The 26-year-old becomes the Staggies’ seventh summer addition.