ALEX MITCHELL has hailed the role of St Johnstone captain Liam Gordon for helping him to adapt to the Premiership and life in Scotland as a whole.
The towering Millwall loanee has been a standout performer for Saints this season after he was brought into the club following Dan Cleary’s return to Ireland, due to personal reasons.
Mitchell’s displays alongside Andy Considine and Ryan McGowan have been so impressive that he and his teammates have been keeping their skipper Gordon out of the starting XI.
The Saints captain suffered a cruel injury during the League Cup group stages and as a result he started his first game of the league campaign on Saturday against Ross County.
Mitchell lined up alongside Gordon and he was full of praise for the Perth-born defender.
“He’s been massive for me,” he explained. “A real role model. Off the pitch he’s really helped me settle into the point he was helping me out with getting a flat.
“On the pitch, that performance reminded you of what a good player he is. He was unlucky with the timing of the injury he got.
“You wouldn’t tell that was his first start by the way he played in that game. As a defensive line we’ve got a good mix of experience and younger boys.
“Andy and Gowser’s careers speak for themselves. Both of them have been so good this season.”
Mitchell has looked sound in the centre of a back three, and on Saturday he looked equally as impressive, despite moving out to the right-hand side of the defensive line.
He continued: “I got a nose bleed in the first half! It’s obviously a bit different. There is a bit more one v one defending and you have to be technically switched on but I really enjoyed it.
“If I do play that position more regularly, hopefully, you’ll see me contributing to the team going forward. I played it all season at Leyton Orient.
“Once I get into the flow of it I’ll be running up and down the line. When you’re in the middle, the main task is mopping things up and giving the ball to someone better on the ball.
“On the outside you’ve got to drive in and play two touch with the wing-back. The gaffer works hard with me on that in training – touch and play. And it worked quite a lot in the first half, and Drey Wright was a good out ball for us.”
Saints are slowly starting to gel as a team and Mitchell and his teammates are beginning to add points on the board.
He added: “Two clean-sheets in a row is good. At the start of the season we were letting in some soft goals. Fingers crossed, we’ve rectified that.
“The good thing about the four centre-backs is we can work with each other well in different combinations. There’s real cohesion.
“And we’re giving each other tough competition to be in the starting three. I have to say that John (Mahon) is knocking on the door as well. He’s looking very good in training.
“It will keep everybody on their toes. It’s a tight league already. You know that any team you’re playing can turn up and play well against you.
“Ross County are one of those. There were times when we felt in control and other times when they were a threat.
“I wouldn’t say that we’ve been cheated out of points but I do feel that we’ve let a few slip. The Hibs game was one. Aberdeen and Hearts were maybe others.
“Rectifying those simple mistakes I was talking about is really important. I think we’ll get a lot more clean-sheets and give our attack a base to build on.”
