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Jean-Francois handed second chance by Aberdeen

Haiti defender given chance to impress dons as he starts pittodrie trial

Aberdeen have given Lescinel Jean-Francois a second chance in Scottish football by handing the Haiti international a Pittodrie trial.

The 21-year-old was in the squad for last night's friendly at Brechin.

Aberdeen got their first win of pre-season last night as Derek Young's long-range strike gave the Dons a 1-0 victory at Brechin City.

Aberdeen's win was marred, however, by the news that defender Zander Diamond suffered a recurrence of a foot injury picked up at the end of last season.

Dons manager Jimmy Calderwood said: "Zander is a worry, he might be out for a few weeks, we will have to see how serious it is.

"We had Scott Severin injured in training and Gary McDonald and Start Duff are also injured, so we are short of defenders at the moment.

"We will take Zander to Holland with us, but where he plays is anther thing. We will assess it as we go on.

"There were some plus points and some negative points. I though Charlie Mulgrew did well and young Peter Pawlett was terrific."

Jean-Francois, who launched his career with Paris Saint Germain, spent a turbulent four-month period with Falkirk in 2006, but has returned to Scottish soil in an attempt to win a Dons contract.

His spell with the Bairns got off to a bad start when he failed to report for duty after a mix-up with flights from France. Then he infuriated manager John Hughes by returning to the continent for a family funeral without warning, missing key games in the process.

The French citizen's career at Westfield came to an end when the club failed to track him down to get a response to the offer of a one-year contract.

Despite the off-field frustrations, the powerfully built defender impressed for Falkirk during 10 league and cup appearances as he helped preserve the club's SPL status.

Jean-Francois spent last season with Guingamp in the French Second Division, having also turned out for Sedan at the same level.

Jean-Francois, who can play on the left of defence or through the centre, will be joined at the Dutch base by teenage trialist Dyon Camero.

Camero spent a week at Pittodrie in April and did enough to persuade Calderwood to take a second look.

The 19-year-old centre forward has been turning out for amateur side FC Zutphen in the Netherlands.

Calderwood said: "Dyon did very well when he came across to Scotland earlier in the year and I would like to see him in a couple of the games we have planned for Holland."