Put it all on the line

Buddies boss eyes first win of his reign at Dens Park

Oran Kearney last night threw down the gauntlet to his embattled Buddies as he urged his players to finally break their winless run.

Kearney is desperate to land his first win as St Mirren boss since replacing Alan Stubbs in September.

The Saints have lost seven out of eight matches under the Northern Irishman’s leadership, a draw against Celtic - his first game in charge – his solitary point so far.

The former Coleraine gaffer, who knows a win over Dundee will see his side move four points clear of their basement rivals, insists his strugglers are more than capable of putting their winless record to bed.

He said: “You could describe it as a six-pointer. When there are two teams so close together and in the predicament the clubs are in then it is easy to say that. But I am happy for that to be the mindset if it means our players raise the bar and use it as more motivation.

“As far as I’m concerned, the players are the most important people at the club and I will bend over backwards to ensure they get everything they need to be in the best possible position ahead of tomorrow.

“It is my job to ensure that they are absolutely primed and ready to go.

“It would be great to taste a win again. We all know in football that things can be said and done behind the scenes but I learned from playing football that you live off performances and the results you gain from them.

“The motivation you take from wins is far more than what you can get from fans, board, manager or anything which goes with that.

“For our players and how tough the journey they have been on, I think it would be brilliant for them to win.”

St Mirren’s only win of the campaign to date came against Dundee on the opening day of the season.

Kearney was still gaffer at Coleraine at that point.

He pinpointed the parallels between the two sides as reason to believe that he can turn the Buddies’ fortunes around.

Kearney added: “They are very similar clubs, both two very community-driven clubs with two very similar boards.

“Ideally, I would love to end up in the same place.

“I have arrived at a club on my tod as everyone else has been here already and I am coming in to try and get the feel of every player and member of staff.

“I feel I have done that and got through a mountain in the last six to eight weeks.

“But it is a process and it is one of those things that will take a period of time.

“You do want to put your own ideology and stamp on it – but that can’t happen overnight.”