Mehmet: Sutton's a hard act to follow

Sep 26 2008 by Paul Behan, Paisley Daily Express

Billy Mehmet

BILLY Mehmet last night revealed how John Sutton inadvertently did him a favour by leaving St Mirren.

The pair spent two years together at Love Street before Sutton, left, decided to pursue his career elsewhere and headed south to join Wycombe Wanderers.

Ironically, Sutton’s departure last year paved the way for an increased role for Mehmet in the Buddies first team.

London-born Mehmet had spent much of his time playing second fiddle to the former Millwall striker, who is now back in Scotland with Motherwell.

But in the year since Sutton’s move away from Saints Mehmet has stepped out of the shadows to be top dog at Love Street.

Mehmet said: “When John was with St Mirren he really was a handful and a big, strong player, although I didn’t play alongside him very much.

“And obviously, when he was here, he did really well and that meant I started games on the bench quite a lot but when he left, my chance came along and I’ve fortunately managed to take it.”

Mehmet, 24, was handed the opportunity to show that he could fill the void left by Sutton and he repaid the faith shown in him by firing himself to the top of the St Mirren goalscoring charts last season.

In addition Mehmet’s work-rate and commitment to the Saints cause also helped him to win the club Player of the Year award.

However, Mehmet, who is already on six goals so far this season, insisted: “While I’m getting a game and happy with the way things are going, I’ll never take it for granted.

“We have five good strikers at the club including Craig Dargo, Dennis Wyness, Jim Hamilton and Tom Brighton who are all looking to play every week and I have to work hard to stay in the team.”

Past and present meet tomorrow when Mehmet and Sutton line up in opposing teams at Fir Park.

And Mehmet warned: “Our defenders know all about John Sutton, so we’ll have to be on our toes. We will be determined to bounce back from Tuesday’s defeat to Dunfermline, because we’re still hurting from that result.”