Sutton: Jack has been Saint since he came
JOHN SUTTON has hailed St Mirren boss Jack Ross for hauling the Buddies back from the brink in the Championship.
Striker Sutton made his 100th start and scored his 13th goal of the season during Tuesday night’s 4-1 derby hammering of Morton at Cappielow.
The win made it six games unbeaten and moved Saints up to eighth spot with four games left in the Championship campaign.
It’s the first time they have climbed out of the bottom two since Ross arrived in October.
And Sutton believes the 2-0 win at Ayr back in February – when Saints could have been cut adrift at the bottom by 11 points – was a massive turning point.
The 33-year-old hitman said: “The manager has come in and galvanised the troops.
“We had some good players at the club and he changed it a bit but the record speaks for itself.
“When Jack came in we were at the bottom of the league. We didn’t get off to a great start with results although I remember thinking we were unlucky at the time.
“We didn’t know how well we had to perform to get a win.
“It’s testament to the players and the manager that we stuck at it.
“A couple of months ago people were saying St Mirren were already dead and buried.
“That’s the thing with the league, you always have a chance because you play the other teams so many times.
“We beat Ayr away in February and could have gone double figures behind if we had lost that match. So it was a big win.
“We’ve kicked on from there. We’ve got ourselves out of the relegation zone and the challenge now is to stay out.”
While Ross can take most of the credit for what has happened on the field, Sutton insists the fans have never wavered in their belief that the Buddies could stage a great escape.
He said: “The fans have been very good. I can’t remember a time when they have given us pelters.
“They’ve always turned up in their numbers and always got behind us.
“They’ve made it a good club to be at and that’s really important.
“They were expecting some sort of promotion or play-off push this year and that didn’t happen.
“It’s the total opposite but they stuck with us and made it a good place to play.”
Sutton was unaware he had clocked up a ton of starts for St Mirren.
The Englishman insists his sole focus was on defeating rivals Morton and hoisting themselves up the table.
He said: “I didn’t realise that it was my 100th start for the club. It’s nice and to win at Cappielow was brilliant.”