Jamie McGrath was off to a flier in the Premiership at St Johnstone, with a goal and an assist in the 2-1 win at St Johnstone. It’s the last statistic that he sees as the most important though.

“It’s an important three points. First game of the season, live on TV, everybody’s watching. We knew how important it was. with a new gaffer, a new system. I think we’ll only get better as well, which is pleasing, but it’s a good start.

“I think the League Cup’s been brilliant for us, playing competitive games that you don’t normally get in pre-season, so that was a good bedding in for us. We’re still learning, there’s still a long way to go, but I think in patches tonight we were really, really good. No doubt we can get a lot better at certain things, but I think on the counter-attack we looked really good, and on another night we’d have seen out the game in the first half.

“The first game of the season can be a bit cagey, but halfway into the first half, it was like a yo-yo game, and it probably suited us to a certain degree. The boys on the counter, Ester’s pace and Bojan up top, we were dangerous but disappointed not to maybe put the game out of sight in the first half. But we defended brilliantly for the last 20 minutes, and we can take positives going both ways.”

Still early days of course, but McGrath says he can already see signs of the new team knitting together well.

“I think we’re all on the same page. Obviously it’ll take time for us all to gel properly, but the early signs are good. Sivert has brought a lot of experience into midfield alongside Shinnie, and he put the goal on a plate for me tonight, so hopefully I can repay the favour later.

“The character of the team is good. It could have been easy for us to just get back into our box and defend the box, being away from home as well with the fans on top of us, but I thought we stayed strong and Peter and Pape proved a great outlet for us on the long ball. When they scored, we could have panicked, but I think we adapted really well and finished the game strong.

“The fans were a big part of it as well. I think we sold out all our tickets, so to score in front of them was a great feeling. The feeling at the end of the game was really special, with all the fans there behind us, and hopefully we can keep that going.”

McGrath was in double figures for goals last term, so is he looking for more of the same this term?

“I’m not putting too much pressure on myself with a goals target, but it’s important that we all chip in.We’ve had a lot of goalscorers so far this season. Nicky scored again tonight, Jack McKenzie last week, it’s important that we all chip in. I want to try and kick on again from last season, get goals and assists into my game, which is important as an attacking player, so I’m delighted to get that tonight.”

The Dons move on to Sunday now, a Pittodrie clash with one of Jamie’s former clubs, St Mirren. He sees it as an opportunity to put right one of last season’s failings.

“Our home form last season wasn’t good enough, but so far we’ve won our two home games and we’ve had a good feeling there this season. The home fans will be behind us next week and that’ll be important going into a really tough game against St Mirren, who are flying. It’s good to see them doing well in Europe and we know it’s going to be a really tricky game. We’ll have to be on it to try and get the win.”