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Stephen Robinson is not short of attacking options at St Mirren. Mikael Mandron, Jonah Ayunga, Toyosi Olusanya, Lewis Jamieson and James Scott all vying for three starting spots in pre-season will attest to that.
However, it's in goalkeeper Ellery Balcombe that the Paisley manager reckons he has added a new dimension to St Mirren's attacking threat for the upcoming season.
The imposing loan keeper - in Scotland for the season from Brentford - has already proven his worth as a shot-stopper with a handful of big stops in runouts against Dunfermline and Morton.
And Robinson is confident Balcombe will serve to be another top keeper in Paisley with his impressive distribution a trait which could see a tweak in style this season.
"We knew Ellery Balcombe was a top class goalkeeper," said the St Mirren boss. "He gives us a new added dimension playing out from the back. His distribution was quality [against Dunfermline].
"He is someone I've known about him for a long time and [his distribution] is another string to our bow as we didn't play out from the back last season.
"We now have the ability to do that but we must pick and choose the right times to do it which we're still progressing with.
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"On Saturday [at Dunfermline] he put big Mika [Mikael Mandron] clean through on goal and he's certainly a good weapon for us.
"But we have to be brave and we have to learn from our decision-making and Ellery is a big part of that."
St Mirren take on Fleetwood Town this afternoon in their third outing in pre-season. Charlie Adam's side head to the SMiSA Stadium for a 3pm kick-off which will see James Bolton back in Paisley just a week after his shock exit due to family reasons.
"It's a huge test for us and we picked four really hard pre-season games," said Robinson of pre-season preparations ahead of entering the Conference League second qualifying round later this month.
"Morton are a good side, Dougie [Imrie] has done a great job with them and they have some really talented players. They're very well coached.
"It was the same with James [McPake] at Dunfermline and now we've got Charlie Adam and Mo Ross, two excellent coaches [at Fleetwood], and you've got Paul Simpson [at Carlisle] as well.
"We wanted this as otherwise you don't find things out or identify things that aren't quite right.
"We have to make sure we are right hitting that first game in Europe."
