LEADING THE LINE
Foley: It was a privilege to captain the Buddies
Influential midfielder Sam Foley insists it was a privilege to skipper the Saints.
The 33-year-old led St Mirren out to take on Aberdeen, the first time he’s captained the club since joining last summer.
The former Northampton Town and Port Vale star donned the armband in difficult circumstances, taking over from Kyle Magennis after he suffered a devastating seasonending injury against Rangers.
He believes the job was made easier by the fact the St Mirren dressing room is packed full of leaders across the park.
He told Express Sport: “I’ve worn the armband a few times throughout my career.
“It’s always a privilege to be
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captain of the team.
“It’s definitely an added responsibility but there’s plenty of leaders in that dressing room.
“If the gaffer wants me to wear the armband then I will, I’m happy to do so.
“There was maybe a bit of added responsibilty given Kyle Magennis’ injury, but Stevie McGinn is obviously still club captain.
“If he’s not playing it’s got to be someone else’s responsibility and whoever does has got to pick up the mantle.
“Kyle’s going to have a tough time of it as the injury is quite a bad one. We’re all there supporting him, he’s got a long road to recovery and if we can help him in any kind of way we’re going to do that.
“Hopefully he comes back stronger.”
Foley helped the Buddies battle to a point on Sunday that could prove pivotal come the business end of the campaign.
And he believes it was one picked up rather than three missed after spurning a giltedged chance to win it in the first half when Jon Obika struck the post.
He said: “It’s a point gained I think. That was the feeling in the dressing room after the match.
“It’s mixed though because I believe we had the better chances, but overall a draw is a good result against them. Neither team can grumble about it ending level.
“It’s a huge positive to take that we stood up to the physical battle. Everyone stood up to their man and was counted in that physical test so we’ve got to take a lot of heart from that.
“The style of play over the last few months has definitely changed.
“It depends a lot on who we’re playing against.
“Against Aberdeen we focused more on the physical side of the game.
“When we play Rangers and Celtic you’re not going to have as much of the ball so you need to be more organised.
“I think we can take a lot of positives from the fact we’re so adaptable in different situations.”
Englishman Foley is now targeting points from this weekend’s clash with Hibs.
He added: “The lads will recover and then start preparing for the Hibs game.
“We need to keep the points coming in.”