Saints set sights on beating Buddies to maintain survival bid

A DRAW was enough for St Johnstone to deny Dundee a Premiership survival spark at the weekend.

And now the aim is to do the same to St Mirren, according to Cammy MacPherson.

But this time by beating them.

The Perth midfielder will come up against his old team at McDiarmid Park on Saturday, with closing the gap on the Buddies to just two points the incentive.

And Saints’ form curve gives him encouragement that they can do it.

“We 100% have got to believe,” said MacPherson.

“There’s big belief in the squad that we can go on a run through to the end of the season. We want to win every game.

“There will be pressure on both sides. We need to try and close the gap to them now.

“It’s a vital game and if we get the three points it drags them in, then we’ll see what happens. We’ve got some momentum going into the game and that is always important in football.

“St Mirren are on a losing streak but we know when it comes to Saturday it will be 11 versus 11.

“I’ve not watched any of their games but you obviously check the results because of where we are in the table.”

The 1-1 draw with Dundee did not fulfil Saints’ Dens Park ambitions.

But the result was a palatable one.

“It was probably fair in the end because we didn’t start very well,” he said. “I thought they played well in the first half.

“We had a bit of sustained pressure in the second half and we maybe could’ve nicked another goal. We knew we had to come out and change the game.

“The substitutions made a wee bit of a difference but we were already starting to put some pressure on.”

Cammy MacPherson, left, in action for Saints.