Aberdeen manager Jimmy Thelin praised the attitude of Bojan Miovski after the North Macedonia international returned to the starting line-up to help the Dons to an opening William Hill Premiership win over St Johnstone.
Miovski hit the bar from 30 yards and played a major role in a dominant first-half performance in Perth as the Dons won 2-1.
The striker only played 45 minutes of the Premier Sports Cup group stage amid transfer speculation but he was unleashed for the league kick-off.
“He has been ready all the time,” Thelin said. “But we also try to prepare the whole team and we don’t have any friendly games. We had the cup games, Ester (Sokler) and Pete (Ambrose) were doing well and I know what Bojan can do.
“He has been sharp in training, he’s been mentally here. For the first cup game we took him out because it was a lot (of speculation) but since then he’s been really, really focused and a lot of positive energy in the locker room and on the training pitch.
“He showed he’s here in his head and doing really well for Aberdeen. He’s giving 100 per cent and he’s a really good player. Right now he is an Aberdeen player and we focus on that and we take training day by day.”
Goals from Nicky Devlin and Jamie McGrath earned Aberdeen the points after they held off a late Saints charge following Gavin Molloy’s own goal.
Thelin admitted his first taste of Scotland’s top flight was better than expected.
“I like that we had so many supporters here,” he added. “The atmosphere overall in the arena was really good. The emotions, how the supporters live the game, it was loud, it was intense and also how we celebrated after the game was really nice.”
St Johnstone manager Craig Levein was “really pleased” with his side’s performance but the result was compounded by seeing defender Sam McClelland leave the field on a stretcher and head to hospital.
“Obviously it was a bitter blow because Sam’s ruptured his Achilles, it seems,” Levein said.
“He’s not had much luck at all after having an ankle injury but it’s the downside of football, I suppose.
“I don’t like saying, but I mean this could be a fairly lengthy time in rehab and he was playing really well.
“The last two or three games he’s been doing well, so I feel for him even more than anything else.”
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