WALLACE BOOSTS FEEL-GOOD FACTOR AT SAINTS

ROSS WALLACE’S first taste of Scottish top-flight football for 14 years in St Mirren’s victory over Motherwell on Tuesday night has merely whetted his appetite for more.

Now 34, the former Celtic winger has returned north of the border after spells with, among others, Sunderland, Burnley and Sheffield Wednesday. His debut at Fir Park was just another reason for cheer for the Saints support, who have watched their side return from the winter break in bullish mood. Since hostilities resumed, St Mirren have lost just twice in nine games across all competitions. Refocused and re-energised after the lay-off, they are 11 points better off than a year ago and have good reason to view their Scottish Cup quarter-final with Aberdeen at the weekend with optimism. But it’s not just the impressive results Jim Goodwin has overseen of late that has Wallace (pictured) believing the concluding weeks of the campaign hold great promise. ‘We have some really good players at this club,’ he stated, with Saints now four points clear of Hamilton and six ahead of bottom-of-the-table Hearts. ‘It’s just a question of them believing that and going out and doing it consistently every week. ‘There are promising young players who are learning quickly, so there are definitely more results like this still to come. ‘We have good youngsters and, hopefully, I can help them with their game. They might not need it but I can give them advice about little adjustments here and there, where they should be on the pitch and so on.

‘How the teams below us feel isn’t our concern. We just want to win as many games as we can and start climbing this league.’ Wallace, who earned a full Scotland cap against Japan in 2009, is the kind of winter signing that most managers would give their right arm for. Explaining the circumstances that led to him bolstering Goodwin’s squad, he added: ‘I left Fleetwood Town in September. I just came into Saints to get some training so that I’d be ready for the January window but they were unlucky with a few injuries, which proved to be fortunate for me because it gave me my chance.

‘I’ve had hardly any injuries during my career — touch wood. There’s been no cruciate ligament damage or anything like that, so I feel fit and I can still get around the pitch relatively quickly. ‘I’d had a few offers from League One and League Two clubs down south, but I wanted something which gave me a buzz and I’d always had an eye on coming back to Scotland to play. ‘It felt great to be back on a football pitch again, especially getting a win against a good Motherwell side.’