It was business as usual for Graeme Shinnie at Queen of the South on Saturday – another season, another League Cup wonder goal from the skipper…

“It was a goal from distance in the cup last year, then I had a goal like this chalked off against Ross County in the league, so I was just showing people that it wasn’t a fluke and that I could do it again! It was good to get a goal and to start the game the way we did. The early goal is so important in these sort of games and it calmed us down and from there, we played some good stuff in the first half.

“The manager wanted us to play with high intensity. We’ve only had a short space of time to work together, but it’s been intense, learning what he wants to do. I think today is a good starting point. There’s still a long way to go, checking what we did right, what we did wrong, and to learn but it’s been really good so far and that’s a good starting point for us today.

“Last season we went through quite a few transitions with changes in management. This is just a fresh start, a fresh era. Coming back in pre-season, it’s about learning the manager’s and the staff’s way and what they expect of us, which the boys have taken to.”

Early days of course but the midfield duo of Shinnie and Sivert Heltne Nilsen showed plenty of promise in their first game together.

“Sivert only just came in a couple of days ago, and then we spent Friday together on a four hour journey down here, which was maybe good. It was a chance for getting to know him and build relationships. I think we can play well together. It’s gutting that Dante got injured, but good that Siv’s came in and will fill that void straight away.

“Siv is a competitive battler like myself. He’s good to have next to me if I do want to try and get forward and get some goals. Knowing that he’ll be there behind me is good. Likewise, if he does want to go forward, we can balance off each other. He’s a different sort of player to what we’ve had and one where hopefully we will complement each other well.”

The Dons had the game all but sewn up by half-time and Shinnie was particularly impressed by the way the front four performed in the game.

“I thought the front boys, especially in the first half, were really good. Shayden’s pace down one side, Jamie coming in off the other side and then Ester getting a couple of goals was important for him as well. It was hard for him last year with Bojan doing as well as he was. Ester was sort of playing off scraps, getting just a few minutes here and there. I thought he took advantage of every minute that he got and that’s a massive testament to him and how hard he worked last season. He was still learning as he was going. I thought he came out of his shell a lot more as the season went on. This season will be a big season for him.

“The new boys are all settling in as well. Dimi knows the league from being at St Johnstone, he’s already comfortable, he’s quite lively. Peter is new to the country, new language, trying to understand me, speaking Doric is quite hard! But we’re trying to bring him out of his shell. It can be hard adapting to a new lifestyle over here but we’re getting to know him as much as we can. Pre-season in Portugal was good for that because you spend a lot of time together. Dimi, Peter, Gavin, they’re all good characters and good to have around and they’ve settled in nicely.”