HOLD YOUR HEADS HIGH
Goodwin insists St Mirren won’t be judged for last night’s performance
Jim Goodwin last night insisted his side won’t be judged on results against the Old Firm.
The Buddies 2-0 loss against Celtic consigned them to the bottom of the Premiership table alongside struggling Hearts, with the Saints picking up just one win in their last nine games.
Goodwin insists St Mirren’s season won’t hinge on results against the biggest sides in the league, and is targeting teams in the bottom six to start picking up more points.
“Nights like tonight isn’t how we’re going to be judged,” he said.
“At the end of the day, no one expects us to go to Celtic Park or Ibrox and come away with anything.
“Whatever you do go away with is going to be a bonus.
“I genuinely did think beforehand that the game plan would work. I thought we could get a point and that would have been a massive one, given the level they’ve been at recently.
“They put four past Aberdeen, six past Ross County. They’ve beaten Lazio.
“To be in the game for as long as we were is pleasing, but the bottom line is we’ll be judged by the games against Livingston, Hamilton, Ross County and St Johnstone.
“Those are the games we’ve got to go and win.”
St Mirren put in a disciplined performance in the first half, frustrating the Hoops and keeping the scoreline goalless.
Mohamed Elyounoussi and James Forrest eventually made the telling breakthrough, with St Mirren’s 29-year wait for a win at Parkhead continuing.
Goodwin was disappointed in the manner his side gave away the goals so early in the second half, having kept the Hoops out so well in the opening 45 minutes.
He said: “Overall, the performance in the first half was satisfying.
“In terms of being disciplined and hard to beat, the boys have been excellent.
“We set up to be compact and not allow Celtic to play through us like they like to do and try to hit them on the counter attack.
“I thought we did that. Vaclav wasn’t as busy as people would have probably expected in the first half. I can’t remember him having too many saves to make
“We asked for a repeat performance in the second half, but, unfortunately, we just didn’t start the second half as well as we should have.
“To lose the first goal in the way we did was a bit unfortunate.
“Vaclav’s made a great save from Edouard and the ball ricochets around in the box and, unfortunately, we didn’t get the break of the ball on that occasion.
“The second one is really disappointing. I felt we could have defended it better on a number of occasions.
“When it comes to James Forrest, we need to show him onto the outside, not onto his left foot.”