McGrath says St Mirren turnaround can start now

ST MIRREN midfielder Jamie McGrath believes his side’s break from Premiership duty has reinvigorated the players and provided a much- needed morale boost ahead of their clash with Motherwell this afternoon.

Heading into the international break, the Buddies had lost six league games on the trot as results tailed off after an encouraging start to the season.

A 4- 1 win over Partick Thistle and another on penalties against Queen of the South in the Betfred Cup, however, has brought an end to that sorry run of form – and McGrath reckons that the two victories against lower- league opposition can be the catalyst that sparks an upturn in form in the top flight.

McGrath said: “We had to re- focus on the Cup. We had two tough ties there and, fortunately enough, we came through them with two wins, even if one of them was on penalties.

“Getting those results, even against lower- league opposition, helped to get that monkey off our backs after going a couple of months without a win.

“Those Betfred games have helped us to re- set and go again. We’d been through a sticky patch, especially losing to that last- minute goal at Pittodrie, so the wins were good for our confidence.”

With the table particularly congested at this early stage of the season, a couple of wins could get St Mirren out of their predicament. And with their next three league games all taking place in Paisley, the Irishman thinks he and his team- mates have a great chance of doing just that – starting today against Stephen Robinson’s men.

“A win, two wins, three wins puts you right back up there. It’s still very early days,” he said. “This is a great run of fixtures to try and put things right.

“It’s a great opportunity to push back up the table and pick up from where we started the season off.”