Donati shines on his Accies debut
ST MIRREN boss Alex Rae claimed his players made Massimo Donati look like a £100 million player as they crumbled against Hamilton Accies.
Donati produced an outstanding goal but Rae felt his men gave the Italian midfielder an easy return to Scottish football after eight years away.
Although he will certainly come up against tougher opponents in the Premiership, the former Celtic star looks an inspired signing by Accies.
He brought a real calmness to their play and showed his quality when sidefooting home Hamilton’s third goal from just outside the penalty area.
Accies’ manager Martin Canning was delighted with his capture but Rae preferred to focus on the deficiencies of his own team.
He said: “Donati looked like a superstar in the middle of the field.
“Never mind Paul Pogba, he could go for £100 million. That’s how good he looked at times.
“We wanted them to lock on to Donati early on to stop them playing the ball out.
“When you don’t do that, they have an extra man in the middle of the park.
“It’s a good education for my players and they will have watched the game again on Monday morning and learn from it.
“If they don’t, they’ll be stuck in the Championship for their whole career.”
Hamilton was the venue for Donati’s last start for Celtic when he took part in a 2-1 victory for the Hoops.
Accies’ Dougie Imrie, having seen the Italian in training, wasn’t surprised by his showing.
He said: “We maybe haven’t had a player like him since Alex Neil left.
“I think his calming influence will be good for the young lads in our team.”
Accies are still experimenting with their defensive set-up for the season ahead and they will be further bolstered by the arrival of Greek centre-back Georgios Sarris.
The 26-year-old former AEK Athens man has arrived from Turkish second division side Kayseri Erciyesspor.
Accie’s boss Martin Canning said: “We looked at him last year and he got a big offer to go to Turkey.
“He had an offer to stay there but he’s