Cammy Ballantyne: Former team-mate Andrew Steeves "absolutely delighted" for St Johnstone midfielder

He admits there was a bit of shock to see Cammy Ballantyne’s name appear on the St Johnstone team-sheet as the fight for Premiership safety reached tipping point.

But former Montrose team-mate Andrew Steeves was certainly not surprised to hear that the midfielder had repaid the trust by producing one of the best performances on the park.

Ballantyne was brought in from the cold in a crunch clash against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park last month.

It was a first ever top-flight appearance for the 23-year-old, who had not played competitive football since January after returning from a fourth Links Park loan.

Saints went on to win the game 1-0 and secure their 15th consecutive season in the Premiership.

“I’ll admit I was shocked when I saw he was starting against Kilmarnock the other week,” said Steeves, a former Saints youth player who hails from Scone.

“It shows that Macca (Steven MacLean) has belief in him. You don’t throw a young player into arguably the most important game of the season, against a team with a great home record and who are tough to play against, if you don’t.

“There was a bench with senior players missing out and, in months gone by, Bally had not even been stripped.

“But I was absolutely delighted for him – and then to hear that he did really well too.”

Steeves admits there had also been a touch of earlier shock when Ballantyne continued to return on loan to Montrose. He was, of course, more than happy to have him.

“He came back to Montrose the last time off the back of the season where we lost in the last second against Airdrie in the playoff,” Steeves recalls.

“He’d had a great second half of the season. We had seen boys like Lyall Cameron leave us and then go straight in at a higher level. We thought Bally