RONAN’S HUNGRY LIKE A WOLF
On-loan Saints striker eager to impress Molineux chiefs
Connor Ronan insists he’s hungry to impress in Paisley after bagging a crucial brace in St Mirren’s comeback win against Aberdeen.
The Wolves loanee’s impressive strikes helped the Buddies pick up their first Premiership victory of the season, lifting the man-of-thematch award in the process.
Ronan revealed the English Premier League club had staff in attendance at the SMiSA Stadium on Sunday afternoon to track his early progress with his new side.
And the midfielder, who chose the Scottish top flight as the next destination to try and further his career despite having offers elsewhere, is pleased parent club Wolves are keeping a keen eye on him.
Ronan said: ”Someone from Wolves was there to watch the Aberdeen game, so they’re always in close contact which is nice.
“It’s not a case that if you go out on loan you are forgotten about.
“They’re in touch every week, asking ‘are you playing this week?’ and ‘how was training?’.
“In the case of coming here, they said it was up to me where I wanted to go because I was injured at the time. So it was a case of getting fit and that was the main factor.
“Wolves were happy to let me come here and it was perfect, really.
“To be honest I don’t think it was one of my best performances in the first half, certainly not since I’ve been here, but a goal just gives you that boost and the confidence to go on and do more.
“Even when that second one goes in, you know you just want to keep getting on the ball.
“Football is a confidence game and if you’re scoring goals and picking up assists then you’re going to want the ball all the time.”
Ronan suffered a broken metatarsal last season, which saw his loan spell at Swiss giants Grasshopper ending early.
Now he’s back fully fit, the Ireland Under-21 international is determined to make up for lost time.
While he wasn’t happy with the set piece goals which the Buddies conceded against Aberdeen, he hopes the Paisley club can build on their first three point haul when they take on Livingston in West Lothian on Saturday.
Ronan added: “We got that early goal and I think we need to start defending that lead a little bit better and just see out that pressure that’s always going to come.
“When you score you tend to be on the back foot a little bit and I think we just need to work on seeing that out and getting back in the game.
“Obviously it didn’t go like that. It’s disappointing to concede the two from set-pieces and then I think the red card changes the game.
“We still have to go out there and score the goals to win the game, so we were pleased with that.
“We showed a lot of character to come from behind and hopefully this can kick-start us on to a few more wins.”