No more heartache

Baird can’t face drop again

St Mirren defender Jack Baird has vowed there will be no return to the dark days of the club’s previous relegation.

The centre back is the sole surviving member of the Buddies side that failed to beat the drop back in 2015 as a malaise set in both on and off the park.

But he reckons there is a completely different mood around the Simple Digital Arena and Ralston these days.

Recent results going their way has lifted the confidence among the ranks.

And Baird believes that the feelgood factor, boosted in part by a raft of January arrivals, is a stark contrast to the side he stepped up to five years ago as Tommy Craig and Gary Teale failed to stop the Saints’ slide into the Championship.

He told Express Sport: “We could have been out of sight by now if we’re being honest.

“We have somehow managed to scrap our way back into this and we can’t afford to let that go now.

“We are now in a much better position than we have been all season.

“It is a good position to be in considering where we were, so I am happy with where we are at heading into the final few weeks.

“There’s a different feeling to the last time the club was relegated – everything feels really positive.

“I was on the edge of the squad at the time because I was too young to understand what was really going on.

“It was a bit more pressure and more of a stressed-out camp back then. At this point I feel we are more on an incline as opposed to fading away.”

St Mirren are without a clash this weekend as the Scottish Cup semifinals take over.

Casting his mind back to the side’s last outing, a 1-1 draw with Hamilton, Baird insists the side can take heart from their display.

He added: “If you look at the chances we had at 0- 0 and then at 1- 1 last weekend, we know we probably should have won.

“But when we went down 1- 0 we recovered straightaway, which is something that we had previously lacked the ability to do, so that was good to see. It moves us another point away from Dundee.”