Junior knows what Saints have to do to beat the drop
Former St Mirren star Junior Mendes has thrown his support behind struggling Saints as their survival bid brings back memories of his own past scraps.
The Paisley side slipped back into the relegation play-off places following defeat at Dundee United last Saturday to leave Jack Ross’ side with just two games to beat the drop to the third tier of Scottish football for the first time in the club’s history.
Mendes was a member of the last St Mirren side that came close to dropping out the Championship, as they narrowly avoided the drop thanks to a Hugh Murray inspired victory over Stirling Albion on the penultimate day of the 1998 season.
That day still lingers in Mendes’ memory, who admits he had his fair share of scrapes with relegation in the past during his playing days, but revealed he is confident that the Buddies will avoid the drop having seen first hand the work and effort Jack Ross and his coaching staff put into the job.
Mendes told Express Sport: “We were in a slightly different position in that we were dragged back into danger as opposed to scrapping to get out of it.
“We went to Stirling and in all honesty football just had to go out of the window that day. In this situation you just need to run yourself into the ground, the players just need to give it their all and the score will take over. We managed to pull it off that day and went on to build on that over the course of the next couple of seasons
“When you see the size of St Mirren, it is difficult to see them in this situation.
“Their recent run of results have really got them back into the position where they can get themselves out this situation.
“It really is a credit to Jack, James and the side that they have even got themselves into the position where safety is fast becoming a reality.
“It doesn’t surprise me that Jack has managed to rejuvenate the squad. I did a couple of sessions with him whilst he was working with Dumbarton and I was really impressed with the way he works. I’ve been to a couple of conferences where he has spoken and found him to be very engaging.
“The same applies to James Fowler because he did well at Queen of the South last season and was somewhat unfortunate to lose his job.
“I’m just really glad that it appears to be working for them because sometimes a manager can go into a club and it is just rotten to the core, where no matter what they do it just doesn’t work.
“But the two have good ideas and they appear to be working.” Junior Mendes
This weekend’s clash marks 17-years to the day that the Buddies beat opponents Raith Rovers to lift the First Division title in front of a packed out Love Street. It is changed days for both sides, with today’s tie set to have a massive bearing on which side avoids the drop.
Mendes was a part of the side that defeated Jocky Scott’s team to win the league that afternoon and he reckoned that clashes with Raith Rovers that season played a massive part in the side winning the league under Tom Hendrie.
He added: “That season always brings back good memories but I think our success was kick-started by hammering Raith up in Kirkcaldy a few weeks into the season. We had already played a couple of games already but in my opinion that was the afternoon our season really got going.
“It sort of opened the floodgates and we never stopped scoring after that.
“We then had Raith a few weeks before the end of the season and that also proved to be a really important game come the end of the season.
“Myself and Mark Yardley scored in the last couple of minutes to secure a 2-1 win, and to this day it is the game that supporters talk to me about.
“The manner of the victory set us up ahead of games with Falkirk and Ayr and it set the tone for the final few weeks of the year.
“It was amazing to score such a significant goal.
“We were a side that was truly blessed with goals, obviously Yards was the stand-out in the scoring stakes but the goals came from everywhere, everyone was chipping in with them come the end of the season.
“It just so happened that every time we played Raith that season that it seemed to have a bearing on the league.
“We already knew we were going to be promoted before that game with Raith, but once the first goal went in that afternoon it was just a celebration, a real party atmosphere.”