RAISE YOUR GAME
Embarrassed Kearney lays it on the line to squad
St Mirren boss Oran Kearney insists he won’t stand for the abject level of performance that left him “feeling sick” on Saturday night.
The Northern Irishman wasn’t for holding back in his assessment of the Buddies’ 3-1 defeat at the hands of Livingston and branded the display “embarrassing” after watching his side relinquish the lead.
Talking as the team returned to training this week, Kearney stood by his comments as he looks for an improvement this weekend when Aberdeen are the visitors.
Saints are now rooted to the foot of the Premiership after falling to their 12th defeat of the campaign.
And the manager insists things have got to change if the Buddies are to get themselves out of the scrap that they find themselves in.
Kearney told Express Sport: “We had quite a deep conversation after the game.
“It was more a feeling of sickness than anything else. It hurt and it still hurts.
“You put your life and soul into it all week long and you want the same in terms of performance on a Saturday.
“It is different if you go out and play poorly for the 90 minutes and that’s the more frustrating thing because I felt that we didn’t do that.
“The naivety we showed was the hardest part.
“The players haven’t managed the game as well as they should have. We weren’t as cynical as we should have been.
“Those things come with playing in this league for a period of time but we need to continue to work hard and be better.”
A large travelling support turned out in their numbers as Saints slumped to defeat at Almondvale, much like they have done for the entire campaign.
Kearney admits he can only apologise to the supporters again for the performance they witnessed and admitted his side lost their nerve.
Kearney added: “I feel for the fans because we gave them hope in the first half.
“It has been tough. Saturday’s result was hard for everybody.
“I think the hard part was I don’t think anyone saw the second half coming.
“Things have been a lot more positive than negative over the past few weeks, and even the first half at the weekend was good and we got the goal.
“The game plan was working to a T and I think we negated their strengths. At halftime we were delighted but there was no praise for the players.
“The big emphasis was on making sure we got right back on it.
“But for everything we did well in the first half, we didn’t do well in the second. The goal shook us badly and we lost our bottle after that.”