Marcus Fraser had a front row seat to the biggest goal of Tony Watt’s career to date. And the Buddies defender is confident the former Celtic forward will hit a purple patch in Paisley once he nets his first strike in the stripes.
Fraser and Watt played together at Parkhead, with Fraser coming through the youth ranks and Watt joining at a young age from Airdrie.
Both were involved in one of the Hoops’ greatest ever Champions League nights, with Watt scoring a wonder strike as they toppled Lionel Messi’s Barcelona 2-1 in Glasgow back in November 2012.
Fraser knew from that moment on just what the confident young striker was capable of. And he fully believes Watt can rediscover his scoring touch this weekend against St Johnstone to help keep St Mirren’s top-six tilt on track.
Fraser told Renfrewshire Live Sport: “I’ve played with Tony before when we were younger and he’s still just exactly the same. We get on really well and he’s been brilliant since he came in here.
“He’s a lively character and I know from speaking to him he’s determined to get a goal early. Unfortunately it hasn’t happened for him yet.
“Hopefully it comes fast for him and if he does that I’d expect him to hit a good run of form, which would be massive for us going into the end of the season.
“I was on the bench that night for the Barca game when he scored. It was obviously fantastic for him and it probably changed his life as well. It’s credit to him for doing it at such a young age.
“People ask me about it, but when you’re that young it’s just a blur. When it happens it’s just a ‘wow’ moment. It was a brilliant moment for Tony and a great experience for myself too.
“You could always see he had something special about him. I speak to him even now and tell him I want to see him back bullying defenders again, because he used to run defences ragged running in behind with his pace and his power.
“He always used to get sharp shots away as well. Everyone knows he’s got that in his locker. He just needs one goal to spark that run and when he does it’ll be happy days.
“I’d be confident he’d then go on to bang them in between now and the end of the season.”
Watt is also already heavily involved in keeping spirits up behind the scenes.
Fraser revealed every Saints player has been getting involved this season to ensure nobody gets too low when things get tough.
He said: “Not everyone is going to come in every day and be lively, so everyone takes their share of it.
“Whether it’s getting the music on in the gym or getting the banter going in the dressing room, or playing darts. It all keeps morale up.
“Tanser is the best at darts, he picks any number on the board and just hits it first time. I’m terrible. I’m normally the one sitting drinking tea hurling abuse at them.
“Kieran Offord was hitting the wall the other day. I don’t think the club will be too happy with that!
“The Charles Dunne thing as well just shows how together everyone is and there is a good atmosphere here. No-one gets too high when we win or too low when we lose. That’s really important.”
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