GARY TEALE has refused to play down the importance of tonight's friendly against Newcastle.

St Mirren will open their SPFL Premiership campaign with a treacherous trip to the Highlands to face Terry Butcher's Inverness on Saturday.

And the former Scotland star has no doubt that a good performance against the Magpies would be the perfect morale-booster.

But with Alan Pardew's side set to feature first-team stars such as Papiss Cisse, Hatem Ben Arfa, Fabricio Coloccini and Cheick Tiote, Teale knows that Saints will need to lift their levels.

The Buddies' wing king said: "Alan Pardew said he will be playing a few of his established first-team stars and that means we will have to be at our best.

"The Premiership season just four days away so you want the toughest possible challenge and it looks like we are certainly going to get that.

"Players like Cisse and Ben Arfa are special talents and if we can get a positive result from this one it would be a huge boost for us to use as a platform for the trip to Inverness.

"The level of quality in the Newcastle ranks and the fact it is our final friendly means there is definitely an extra importance attached to this game for us."

The Paisley side has been boosted by the arrival of former Hearts left-back Danny Grainger and Teale has no doubt this has been a great piece of business by Saints manager Danny Lennon.

The former Scotland international said: "We lost Paul Dummett back to Newcastle over the summer and he had done a fine job for us at left-back in a position that is always a tough one to fill.

"On top of that, we needed to add a bit more experience and in Danny Grainger we have brought in a guy who has seen it and done it with Hearts and won a Scottish Cup with them and has been one of the most consistent left-backs in the SPL over the last few seasons.

"He is also the type of full-back who likes to push on and whip the ball in and he will give us an extra dimension going forward.

"So Danny has been a great signing for us and I'm really looking forward to playing alongside him."

Teale's hunger to succeed is as strong as ever. The Buddies' ace said: "I feel in great shape and ready to go.

"We have been slowly improving with each outing over the pre-season and it's up to us to lift things again against Newcastle.

"Every one of the lads who plays tonight knows he can do himself a huge favour in terms of laying down a marker for a starting jersey, so hopefully that will be reflected in the performance we deliver."