St Mirren sign former Celtic winger Ross Wallace on short-term deal

St Mirren have signed former Celtic utility man Ross Wallace on a deal until the end of the season.

Ross Wallace has joined St Mirren on a deal until the end of the season after he impressed on trial. Picture: Gary Hutchison/SNS

Buddies boss Jim Goodwin is short on cover at full-back and midfield after Kyle Magennis and Ryan Flynn both suffered season-ending knee injuries, while Paul McGinn has joined Hibernian.

Now he has snapped up 34-year-old Wallace, who can slot in at left-back or further forward, after he impressed while on trial at the tail end of last year.

Goodwin is hoping to tap in to a wealth of experience from a player who has racked up more than 500 club appearances for Celtic, Sunderland, Preston, Burnley, Sheffield Wednesday and most recently Fleetwood, plus one cap for Scotland.

The Irishman said: “Ross is a fantastic, experienced player who has played at a high level.

“Just having someone with his experience around is great and also the fact he can play in midfield and at left-back.

“People will be used to him playing in more advanced areas but he actually played a lot at League One in England with Fleetwood Town last year in the middle of the pitch. He’s a very calming influence in there, keeps things nice and simple and reads the game well. He’s still got bags of quality as well.”

St Mirren visit the Tony Macaroni Arena tonight to face Livingston and the West Lothian side’s manager Gary Holt has echoed the calls from Hamilton counterpart Brian Rice for the introduction of technology to ensure games are not left a blow-out by wild conditions.

Holt saw his side swept out of the Scottish Cup at the weekend as they battled both Inverness and 60mph gusts.

He refused to blame the blustery conditions for his side’s 1-0 defeat in the Highlands but reckons paying customers were short-changed by a clash lacking entertainment value.

Rice has similar feelings about playing matches in the eye of the storm and believes wind meters should be introduced and matches postponed if necessary to protect the sport’s reputation north of the border.

Holt said: “I saw Chipper’s article and I agree with him. Something has to be done.

“We’re in the entertainment business and people pay good money to come watch.

“Yeah, Inverness will be delighted they won, but there’s not one fan who can say they enjoyed the match on Saturday because there was no free-flowing football on show.

“Looking at the games across the weekend, I don’t think there was one good game of football played. It’s the fifth round of the Scottish Cup and that’s not the advert we want for our game.”