THAT WASN’T NEARLY GOOD ENOUGH
Raging Jim tells flops draw feels like defeat
Jim Goodwin insists St Mirren can’t afford to be a “nearly” team if they’re serious about stepping up to the top six.
The Buddies boss was gutted to see his side slip up in the dying moments to allow Livingston to escape Paisley with a point after Nicky Devlin’s strike cancelled out Jamie McGrath’s second-half opener.
Goodwin is adamant his players should have reacted better as they knew the Lions would fight to the very last minute on Saturday.
And despite jumping up into the top six over the weekend, the Saints gaffer believes the Paisley side should be six points further into the top half.
Goodwin told Express Sport: “We’re extremely disappointed with the result. It feels like a defeat for us and no doubt like a point gained for Livingston.
“Failing to see the game out in the dying moments is extremely frustrating and it’s another draw that you look at and it feels like two points dropped. We’ve had 14 games now in the league and drawn half of them. That’s not good enough.
“We need to turn two or three of those into victories and that would make a hell of a difference to the league table.
“I sound like a broken record most weeks. But, taking the Dundee game out of it, we drew with Motherwell when we should have been out of sight by half-time.
“We drew at McDiarmid Park two weeks ago and Callum Davidson admitted after the game that we were the better team and should have won. Then again against Livingston we’ve dropped points.
“That’s an extra six points that, in my opinion, we should have. I can’t keep saying that as people will be fed up hearing it.
“But the difference not having those six points is incredible in how the league table looks. We can’t be that nearly team. We have to keep believing and start to kill teams off.
And most importantly managing the game better at the end and making sure we leave here with three points.
“Credit to Livingston. We knew they’d go right to the last minute and they proved that.
“It wasn’t a classic by any stretch but it’s just one of those you try to win and be grateful for the result. Unfortunately we couldn’t do that.”
As well as dropping two points late on, there was a worrying sight for the Buddies when centre back Conor McCarthy hobbled off with a suspected ankle injury.
Goodwin is hopeful he will make a speedy recovery like fellow Irishman McGrath.
But he insists he has ample cover in the form of Charles Dunne who impressed against the Lions after stepping up off the bench.
Goodwin said: “It looks serious at the moment. Conor wouldn’t come off if it wasn’t.
“He went up for a header and landed awkwardly on his ankle, although the problem might be higher up. We’ll see how it settles down and look to get it scanned on Monday.
“Hopefully it will be similar to the McGrath one recently where you feared the worst initially but then it’s not as bad.
“I thought Charles was excellent when he came on considering he’s not played a great deal in the last couple of months. He was brilliant. That first pass he plays almost instantly after coming on shows you his quality .He’s got pace as well.
“He’s not a bad replacement to bring o n at all.”