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Perthshire Advertiser

St Johnstone midfielder Melker Hallberg can't wait to get back on the pitch after success against St Mirren

Melker Hallberg is already looking forward to getting back out on the pitch with new signing Nicky Clark.

The stand-in St Johnstone skipper very much enjoyed playing alongside the clever striker in Saturday afternoon’s McDiarmid Park success.

Clark got the ball rolling in the 3-0 triumph with a lovely piece of control followed by a clinical finish inside the box.

But his hold-up and link-up play also came in for praise following a very promising club debut, which went down well with team-mates, management and fans alike.

“Nicky has been great since he has come in,” said midfielder Hallberg. “This was exactly the type of player we needed.

“I am so happy for him and I can’t wait to play more games with him and get to know him better. You can just tell he is a good player. But it is not just him.

“Stevie (May) also did a great job up there and I think they can form a good relationship and score a lot of goals. It was then a brilliant move from Connor (McLennan) to win the penalty. Perfect.”

Hallberg praised the resilience of the squad when St Mirren applied pressure at certain points in the match.

And he hopes the result can spark a positive run of form, with sights now set on Kilmarnock this weekend.

“As expected, they came out in the second half with a bit of energy and put us under pressure,” Hallberg explained.

“But we stood strong and absolutely cruised it in the end. We’re so happy with the three points.

“We had not been that bad at the start of the season. We had a tough schedule.

“But we know what we can do and on Saturday we showed it. We can be a really good team.

“We have good players here and this result will only grow our confidence even more. I am absolutely delighted for the boys.”

Already this season Hallberg has had a number of different partners in the centre of the park and at the weekend was joined by Graham Carey, who netted the third from the spot.

Hallberg said: “Graham is easy to play with because he’s good with the ball. I think it worked well.”

Again, Hallberg had the armband from the first whistle with club captain Liam Gordon on the bench.

“I’ve never been a captain before,” Hallberg said of stepping into the role in recent weeks.

“This is the first time and I didn’t expect it, to be honest. I’m out there to do my job and help us win games.

“If the gaffer sees me as a player who can take responsibility and push the team forward, of course I am happy to do that.

“But when Gordy is playing he is the captain. I am happy to fill in when he’s not on the pitch but Gordy is still the captain.”

Despite being given the armband, Hallberg is steering clear of getting involved with who dishes out the team fines!

He said Andy Considine and David Wotherspoon continue to shoulder that task and smiled: “That is too much work for me.”

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