Daniel McBreen wants a start

Feb 5 2008

DANIEL McBREEN admits he was the only man in the St Johnstone camp smiling when the weekend Scottish Cup tie in the Highlands fell victim to the weather.

The recently recruited Aussie striker now has a chance to play his way into contention for the re-arranged tie in Dingwall next Tuesday.

And if Saints can safely negotiate Ross County they have a home quarter-final looming with either St Mirren or Dundee United.

McBreen is desperate to make the squad for a tough league trip to the other end of the country, with in-form Queen of the South on the weekend agenda. Then his thoughts will turn to the cup. He recently endured a tortuous few days before a specialist decided the ankle injury sustained in his debut against Partick wasn’t serious.

“I have been quite fortunate with injury until the last 12 months. But eight years ago I hurt the other knee playing in Australia and there was some talk of reconstruction. As it turned out I was sidelined for maybe 12 weeks. When my knee locked and seized up the day after the Thistle match I was worried.

“Having just signed for Saints and looking for a fresh start my timing could have been better! But this is the best of a bad situation. It wasn’t anything serious. I’m already back running and I’d love to feature in the squad against Queen of the South, even though I don’t have fond memories of their ground. I’ve played there once with Falkirk and we won. But it was freezing cold and horrible.

“I know I’ll have to be patient because Andy Jackson is on fire and Stevie Milne has also been getting goals. But I’m the only guy happy that the cup game was called off.

“I rang Peter MacDonald on Saturday and he’d just got back from Inverness. I was on the couch with my feet up! But I’m aiming to step up training this week and get back in contention for the re-arranged tie.”

The winter weather doesn’t bother the far-travelled Australian. He recalled: “I remember going from 35 degrees during a Christmas break in Australia to minus 15 in Romania, where I played for two years. That was a 50 degree swing – so Perth is quite warm in comparison!”

McBreen saw out two years in Romania before Scotland and the lure of a guaranteed wage dropping into the bank account brought him to Falkirk. Now he’s determined to make his mark on First Division.

“Romania was some learning curve but I never wanted to stay at home in Newcastle, where I was brought up. I wanted to see a bit of the world,” said a Burnley-born player whose family left for Australia when just a baby.

“There’s a great bunch of guys in Perth and I’ve settled in quickly. There’s real competition for places and that’s fine by me.”