BOSS Ralph Hasenhuttl admitted he had been keen to get creative midfielder Stuart Armstrong up to full speed and added: “He can definitely help the team.”

The former Celtic man came back late to Saints’ pre-season training schedule, due to his commitments for Scotland at Euro 2020 this summer.

He impressed in Saturday’s 3-1 friendly victory over Swansea, scoring just before the hour mark and then being replaced by youngster Ryan Finnigan after 73 minutes.

Asked about Armstrong’s display, Hasenhuttl said: “You also see he is still missing a little bit – he has been in training one week and in one week you cannot train as much as when you come in the highest level fitness-wise.

“We must work with him that he is then also able to go longer than 70 minutes.”

Armstrong started alongside stand-in skipper Oriol Romeu during the contest in Wales, a deeper role he had been utilised for when Saints were stretched with injuries last season.

“I mean we have flexible players,” said the manager. “Ori to have back is important for us but Stuey also showed last season, especially with the ball he is a very good six, who carries the ball very good in the opposition half.

“This is his biggest strength – there he can definitely help the team.”