Brian Kerr hails Roland Idowu's qualities after shining in first friendly win
By Kyle Gunn
St Mirren assistant boss Brian Kerr was full of praise for Roland Idowu after his double against Dumbarton.
The Saints stepped up their preparations for the new season with a 4-0 victory away to the Sons on Saturday.
Mikael Mandron headed the Paisley side in front in the first half after an inviting ball in from the left from the Scottish League One player of the year last season, Evan Mooney.
In the second half, Idowu – who made his loan deal from EFL League Two side Shrewsbury Town permanent this summer – scored a brace in what was a performance that excited the fans.
The Irishman joined the Paisley side on a two-year deal after a successful loan last campaign. James Scott, who will be eager to be more involved this season after having limited minutes last term, closed off the game with the fourth and final goal.
Buddies assistant manager Brian Kerr was delighted to have the team back out on the pitch in what is the first of three pre-season games ahead of the Premier Sports Cup opener against Arbroath on July 12.
And Kerr has heaped praise on Idowu for his performance as he explains why they are okay with the Irishman losing the ball on occasions.
'We know what you get from him. He's a winger type,' he told Express Sport.
'He's going to go and try and beat men time after time. Even today, he loses the ball on occasions, but when you get the quality that he has on the other side and in the two goals, then you've got to accept that sometimes he's going to lose the ball.
'We know that we can accept him losing the ball four or five times if he's able to fire two balls into the back of the net the way he did today.
'That's what we know, and the boys know it as well. Sometimes, you've got to accept match winners.
'They know, the boys, the maverick types that Roland tends to be, and the other boys will do the job getting him the ball and hopefully he produces that magic.'
New boys Liam Donnelly and Jayden Richardson featured from the start of Saturday's game, with new goalkeeper Ryan Mullen not being used.
Richard King is yet to touch down in Scotland after being on international duty with Jamaica at the Concacaf Gold Cup. Kerr went on to add his thoughts on the strong win in West Dunbartonshire.
He said: 'It was a good exercise, which is the most important bit. We knew the boys were all going to get their 45 minutes in so it was important that we saw the work rate more than anything else.
'There was some great quality, there were some great goals and bits and pieces, but most importantly it was to get some minutes in the legs.'
Stephen Robinson's men flew out to Spain yesterday to further ramp up their fitness.
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