BEN RAMAGE
Jim Goodwin is determined to guide his deflated Buddies to seventh spot after missing out on their top six target by the narrowest of margins.
While Hamilton’s late leveller caused the Paisley side to slip out of the top half on goal difference, the St Mirren manager is now focused on being the best of the rest after the split.
That will be no easy feat, with Motherwell and Dundee United hot on their heels.
But Goodwin is adamant his side can fend off their challenges and ensure another piece of history comes their way this season, with the Saints not finishing as high as seventh in the top flight since 1989.
The Buddies also have the perfect opportunity for revenge over Accies when the pair meet in the third round of the Scottish Cup at the start of April, with Goodwin hopeful of another strong cup run to end the season on a high.
“It’s difficult to explain the emotions you feel after such disappointment like that,” he told Express Sport.
“Having came so close a couple of minutes before the end, we just had to see it out.
“Unfortunately we weren’t able to do that.
“We knew we had to win the game. To miss out by two goals is quite incredible.
“In the first half I thought we were excellent and dominated the game. We were in control, I always felt we needed the second goal.
“I knew that Hamilton would throw bodies in the box the later the game went on. Hamilton are quite a direct team anyway.
“You do have to defend the crosses and defend the long balls. balls The Theboysdealtwiththe boys dealt with the majority of what they threw at us very well.
“We had opportunities at 1-0, that’s the disappointing thing.
“We had a couple of really good counter attack opportunities where we needed a little bit more quality in the final area.
“Fulton makes a really good save from Obika to be fair to tip it over the bar.
“Jon then does reallywell really well to press Martin and get in front of him. He probably could have slid the ball to Durmus, who was in a better place to score.
“It’s all ifs, buts and maybes. If we’d kept a clean sheet we would have won the game.
“Unfortunately now we’re battling it out for that seventh place and that has to be the mindset now.
“It’ll take a couple coup of days to get over this, no doubt, having come so close.
“We’ll have a few days away from each other and then come back in, dust ourselves down and try and finish seventh which would still be a very good achievement.
“It’s not what we set out to do, but hopefully when we come back to Hamilton in a few weeks time we can go on a good Scottish Cup run as well.”
While Goodwin admits Hamilton came out fighting in the second half, he believes his experienced defence should have dealt better with the set piece that resulted in Accies equaliser.
The extra man Brian Rice’s side managed to sneak into the box ended up allowing Kyle Munro to find the space to nod home and end St
Mirren’s top six hopes.
Go o d w i n added: “Hamilton were the better team in the second half. We looked a bit nervy and I give credit to them.
“I thought Hamilton were excellent in the second half and forced us back for large periods.
“The boys defended really well overall though. Jak Alnwick hasn’t had a save to make prior to the goal.
“But we didn’t defend the set-piece well enough.
“We didn’t need three men in the wall, two would have been good enough.
“Hamilton ended up five vs four at the back and that man advantage counted.
“That shouldn’t happen at that late stage of a game.
“We should have enough experience on the pitch to manage that situation better.”