Patience is a virtue for Danny

Striker breathes sigh of relief

Danny Mullen insists he is revelling in his manager’s trust after finally finding the back of the net at the weekend.

The St Mirren striker struck his first goal for the club since joining from Championship rivals Livingson as he fired home the opener in the side’s 3-1 win away to Queen of the South.

The picture of Mullen celebrating encapuslated his relief after weeks of working tirelessly on the frontline for the Buddies.

But he thanked his boss for keeping faith in him having been rewarded with a starting berth in Saints’ last two outings.

Mullen told Express Sport: “I think my face said it all – the goal had been a long time coming for me.

“But I think with the manager giving me a run of games recently, that has definitely helped me and my confidence. It is massive to have that backing and I have just wanted to reward that.

“Lewis Morgan did brilliantly to play me in on goal and I just took it first time on my weaker foot and thankfully for me it went into the back of the net.

“But I think every single one of the boys has been working their socks off and that’s why we have been picking up the points the last few weeks.

“It has been a real team effort – but I was delighted to hit the first one to put us ahead against Queens.”

However, Mullen joked that he won’t be handing out scoring tips any time soon – after his last piece of advice, thankfully, went unheeded.

With Morgan lining up to fire home Saints’ second goal at Palmerston, Mullen laughs that he barked at him to smash it.

He added: “All the goals were brilliant.

“I think I told Morgy to blast his free-kick because he was so close, but he saw the keeper standing in the middle of the goal and he picked it out well.

“It is a great finish so I can’t have too many complaints about that.”

Eight games are now all that stands between St Mirren and the end of the season, with the Buddies on the cusp of securing promotion.

And Mullen reckons that things are once again falling into place at the right time.

He said: “We are hitting another run of form at the right time as well – but we just need to keep that up and keep working hard.

“We just need to keep focused and even if we are making mistakes we have to keep our cool and keep our shape.”