'We want to get him fit' - St Mirren boss has plans for former Cork City man Dijksteel

Malik Dijksteel playing against Celtic at Pairc Uí Chaoimh. File picture: Ken Sutton/Inpho

St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson intends on gradually integrating Malik Dijksteel into his team after granting the ex-Cork City winger his debut at Parkhead on Sunday.

The original plan for the Dutchman joining the Scottish Premiership club in January was fast-tracked last week following a public spat with his City manager Ger Nash. 

It transpired the 24-year-old had, in fact, made himself available for last Friday week’s game against Sligo Rovers despite claims to the contrary from his manager.

City received a small fee for brokering a deal that suited all parties and the winger was named on the bench for Sunday’s league opener against Celtic.

Robinson introduced his new capture late on in the game played before bumper opening day crowd of 58,814.

The Buddies were three minutes away from holding Celtic until Luke McCowan’s deflected winner punctured their resistance.

Lisburn-born Robinson also blooded another former League of Ireland graduate at Paradise.

Tunmise Sobowale was two years ago sold by his hometown club Waterford to Shrewsbury Town and via a spell at Swindon Town was recently recruited by the Saints.

Killian Phillips, who made his Ireland debut in the summer friendlies, also arrived in Paisley over the summer, upgrading his loan from Crystal Palace into a permanent deal.

“We’ve seen an incredible piece of athleticism from Tunmise but he’s not played any football,” said Robinson after the wing-back’s 15-minute league bow.

“Malik was only in the building two days and I’m not sure he touched the ball after he came on.

“We want to get these boys fit to have them as options, starting with next week. There’s a reserve game this week and hopefully we’ll have more selection headaches for our next game against Motherwell.” 

Liam Scales and Adam Idah started for Celtic, with Sligo native Johnny Kenny replacing the latter with 12 minutes left.

Celtic were on Monday paired against either Kazakhstan outfit Kairy Almaty or Slovan Bratislava in the playoff round of the Champions League to be played in just over a fortnight. Idah was influential in the Bhoys’ run to the knockout playoffs, where they lost in February to a late Bayern Munich goal.