St Mirren striker Billy Mehmet believes he will improve from working with Jim Hamilton as the team prepare to host Celtic in the SPL.Manager Gus MacPherson strengthened his striker options during the January transfer window when he signed veteran hitman Hamilton from Dunfermline on a deal until the end of the season.

Mehmet, the club's top goalscorer this season with six goals, feels his game will benefit from playing and training alongside Hamilton, who has played for eight different SPL clubs.

He believes the extra competition for a starting berth between himself, Hamilton, Craig Dargo and Stewart Kean can only benefit the players and the club as they all need to perform to keep their place in the team.

Mehmet said: "Jim's an experienced player, he's played with quite a few SPL teams, doing well and scoring goal. So he's helping the youngsters like myself and Stewart Kean.

"He's added strength to the team. He leads the line really well, he's good at bringing people into the game by winning flick-ons.

"It means there's competition for places. I want to play every game and I need to battle for a place in the side."

Mehmet does not believe St Mirren will have an advantage when they face Celtic tomorrow at Love Street following the Hoops' 3-2 midweek Champions League defeat to Barcelona.

But having managed to earn a draw at Parkhead earlier this season, Mehmet hopes they can take points off the SPL champions once again.

He said: "Whenever you play Celtic it'll be a hard game, whether they've played Barcelona midweek or not. They'll want to get a win but hopefully we can get a result against them.

"We managed to draw with them at Parkhead. Stephen McGinn scored and we were one up with five minutes to go. But they equalised and although that was disappointing, it was great to get a draw there as not many teams have done that this season."

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