St Mirren signing Ryan Edwards hailed Oran Kearney's move to bring in a magician ahead of the new Buddies manager's first match in charge.

Kearney drafted in Irish pickpocket magician Rodd Hogg to show off his tricks ahead of Celtic's visit to Paisley on Friday night.

Edwards drew plenty from Hogg's visit as he lines up to make his St Mirren debut against the Scottish champions.

"Very good, it was a great idea by the manager to bring him in. He talked about having your frame of mind in a positive state, which you can take forward into your football and life in general.

"The magician was great, really funny and entertaining."

He added: "The mental side of the game is really important to me, throughout my career I've spoken to sports psychologists.

"It's kind of given to you in Australia growing up and then during my time at Reading they had one at the club and you were told to go.

"But I actually quite enjoy it, I've a good interest in psychology and think it's really important.

"Coming from Australia to the UK is hard enough, you grow up really quickly and see the positives and negatives of football.

"Not a lot of people see the negative side, it's hard to deal with so it's about finding the best way to deal with it."

Edwards was recruited by Alan Stubbs but their time together was short-lived after St Mirren made an early managerial change.

The Aussie winger said he remained confident of forcing his way into a starting spot for the Buddies under new boss Kearney.

"It doesn't faze me, I just take it in my stride," he added. "I'd bought a place in Glasgow then moved to Edinburgh, a week later I'm back to Glasgow. It's not ideal but I'm still playing in the Scottish Premiership at a really good club.

"I believe in my ability and thought regardless of who the manager was I could train and get my way into the team."