Jim Goodwin hails new Aberdeen signing who can mimic Hibs talisman and explains free-kick fear

Aberdeen's Shayden Morris and St Johnstone's Andy Considine during Saturday's clash at McDiarmid Park.

Aberdeen rallied after last week’s defeat to Motherwell with an exquisite free-kick from on-loan Liverpool midfielder Leighton Clarkson the only goal of the game against St Johnstone. Morris had two super chances in the final minutes to put the game beyond doubt with Goodwin anticipating that once he is up to speed that the striker will significantly sharpen Aberdeen’s forward bite.“He [Shayden] is quite similar to Martin Boyle, in that once he gets away from you, you have to foul him to stop him,” said Goodwin.

“He is so quick and I thought he was very unlucky with a couple of attempts he had – the second in particular when the keeper made a decent save.”Goodwin, meanwhile, revealed his fear that veteran fullback Jonny Hayes was going to take the 30-yard set-piece from which the goal came.“I was petrified Jonny was going to take it,” he said. “I’ve not seen Jonny hit the target from a free-kick in God knows how long. I was shouting to let Leighton hit it and thankfully he stepped aside.

“You need that bit of individual brilliance sometimes. When you sign those quality of players, you hope you have a match winner.

“Leighton is a quality player. Technically, we know exactly what we’re going to get. Physically, he needs to bulk up a little bit if he’s going to go back to Liverpool and play in the Premier League. He’s very brave on the ball, he takes it in tight areas and looks to play forward. That free-kick was a real bit of quality.

“We relied on Christian Ramirez in the first half of last season then we he wasn’t scoring in the second half you were scratching your head as to where goals were coming from.

“People will see a 1-0 win and think it was a close game but we were in control and are disappointed not to score more goals.

“We’re not going to get it right every time but I thought today was better than what it was last week and that’s the big thing for me.”