It’s tough at the top for Buddies
Striker says Saints will pick up after defeat
John Sutton admits St Mirren bore the brunt of a “tough” few weeks after they made it three games without a win at the weekend.
Sutton, a second-half substitute in the defeat to Dundee United, conceded that things just haven’t gone right for the Paisley side – despite the fact they remain at the top of the Championship on goal differece.
However, the experienced striker has called on his teammates not to mope around as they look to get back on track in a fortnight’s time as they take a break from action this Saturday due to international call-ups.
Sutton told Express Sport: “It has been a tough few weeks. This league is relentless.
“If you look at the points difference all the way down the league, you’ll see that there is not much in it.
“We believe we have a good squad of players with good ability, so we have just got to back ourselves over the course of the season and believe we are going to get good results.
“We know that there are no easy games in this league and we have just got to put a run together.
“It is a very difficult division and when you are top, then everyone is trying to catch you. It is how you deal with that.
“Personally, I don’t think the break matters really.
“You can look at it in a few ways, other teams will get a game ahead of us – but we get a chance to recharge our batteries a bit, which we will be doing.
“Hopeully, the boys with a few knocks and twinges will get back fully fit and raring to go.
“We have to use it to our advantage.
“We can’t be too downbeat. We have just got to pick ourselves up and get on with it.”
Looking back at the United game, Sutton insists the side’s failure to take their chances came back to bite them at Tannadice.
And he says he was still hopeful of the Buddies pulling off a result when he came on in the last half an hour.
He added: “There is no doubt about it – any game you lose is always disappointing.
“You have days that things don’t go quite right and that was what happened for us on Saturday.
“It was hard because we never got back in it.
“I don’t think there was a huge amount in it.
“We had a few half chances at 1-0 but never managed to take them.
“I certainly felt coming on that there was something there for us, but obviously the second goal made it a lot more difficult for us.
“And then, when we did get a goal back there wasn’t enough time to even get a chance of an equaliser.
“You come off the bench at 1-0 down and you still think you are capable of winning.”