Kearney: Killie loss was tough to take
St Mirren manager Oran Kearney admits it took him days to get over last weekend’s loss to Kilmarnock.
But the Northern Irishman admits it could have all be avoided had it not been for the bumbling officials after their decision to give Killie’s opener before ruling out Simeon Jackson’s apparent leveller.
He said:“It was hard at the time, and it was as tough a Saturday night as I’ve had. It was a sickener.
“It probably took me until the Monday to see the good that was there. You get so caught up in the emotion, what happened and the result that it took a while to grasp the overall performance. By about the Sunday evening or Monday that was beginning to sink in.
“The more you look at it there was a huge amount of positives but the key thing is it’s a results business and the result was the disappointing aspect.
“But there was two massive calls that went against us. At any level they make a difference but at this level they are always going to have a huge impact on the game.” Craig Ritchie
Danny Mullen tops the St Mirren goalscoring charts.
But then again, he admits, it is with just two goals from the opening nine games of the season.
It has been a tough start to life in the Premiership for the Paisley side ahead of today’s clash with St Johnstone.
Finding the back of the net has been a constant issue.
But for Mullen, 23, confidence remains high in his own ability that he is the man to fire the side back up the table.
Mullen said: “I got off to a good start with the two goals against Dundee on the first day of the season.
“My confidence was sky high then.
“I felt that I could go on and do more.
“Then I got injured and that set me back a bit.
“I am looking to go on and score as many goals as I can this season and I don’t think just because I have stepped up a league that it is going to make a difference to how I play and how many goals I want to score.”
For the side as a whole, Mullen admits it just feels like their luck has been out.
Controversial calls from the officials in their last outing against Kilmarnock hogged the headlines.
However, Mullen believes that things are starting to turn in the right direction the longer the weeks are going on.
He said: “When you are in a bad run of form things don’t go for you.
“You also need a bit of luck that can change a whole game and we are not getting that either but we are working towards changing all that.
“The rub of the green is just not falling our way.
“Hopefully we can get that luck and kick on after that.
“It will be a relief more than anything else when we do get that first win.
“We are doing all the right things in training and the manager is working us hard.
“It is happening for spells in matches but we just need to sustain it for 90 minutes and get a victory over the line.
“Whenever we go into training we are always trying to be confident.
“The team spirit that we have got is good and it is just the wee things in games that are not going our way just now.
“We are certainly not lacking in confidence.
“We just need to keep plugging away and it will come.” (Adjacent to Kwik Save car park, Paisley Road West)