Kane grateful to mentor Maclean and wants to inherit his jersey

ST JOHNSTONE

V HAMILTON

Chris Kane hopes he has established himself as the heir apparent to his mentor, Steven Maclean, to become his longterm St Johnstone successor.

The Saints youngster was sent on loan to Queen of the South earlier this season to beef up his reserves of firstteam experience, and his stint in Dumfries has done enough to convince Perth manager Tommy Wright he can be trusted in the Ladbrokes Premiership, the 23-year-old having started nine of the club’s last 11 games since his January return.

Wright clearly sees a future for the striker, having rewarded him with a new two-year deal last summer, while Maclean’s situation is still to be resolved, the 35-year-old out of contract this summer.

Kane has much to thank the 2014 Scottish Cup hero, whose words of wisdom have helped shape his fledgling career and he hopes, if this is to be the end of Maclean’s six-year stay, he will inherit his No 9 jersey.

Kane said: “My spell at Queens has done me the world of good. I wanted to go out, play games and get some experience and I got that. Now my confidence and fitness levels are really high.

“But I was delighted when I

0 Chris Kane: Now a regular. got the call to say the manager wanted me back in Perth. I’ve got my head down and hard work is now paying off. I’m playing games and scoring goals. Hopefully I can keep it up. I want to become somebody who is an integral part of the team. I want to be that main striker, getting as many games and as many goals as I can.

“It’s great to be back playing alongsidesomeonelikemacca. He’s helped me for many years now. He’s such a good player and is always talking to me. During training he’s always giving me wee hints about where I should be positioning my body and where I should be taking my touches.

“He’s a great guy and is always trying to help me out as much as he can. Hopefully (when he decides to call it a day) I can take over from him but I will just have to get my head down in the meantime and keep doing what I do.”

Shaun Want believes Hamilton are the perfect club for progressing young players.

The 21-year-old defender, who has been at Accies since he was ten, has been a regular since the 2-1 defeat by Dundee on 27 January. Want noted the departure of fellow stopper Mikey Devlin to Aberdeen and midfielder Greg Docherty to Rangers in the January transfer window, and knows he also could one day move on if he proves himself.

Ahead of tonight’s trip to St Johnstone, he said: “Look at the amount of players who have been here and moved elsewhere.

“You wouldn’t get that many other teams putting you in at a young age.

“Most teams wouldn’t trust players at that age. You will always get your chance here. If they feel you are right they will put you in.

“It is all about the player and how you adapt to first-team football and hopefully if you keep working hard people will notice you.”