WE’REON AMISSION TOCHANGE NARRATIVE
O’Hara believes Saints are shaking up Premiership
Mark O’Hara says St Mirren are on a mission to “change the narrative” as they fight it out for a place in Europe next season.
The Buddies sit fourth in the Premiership table ahead of this Saturday’s big showdown with Kilmarnock at Rugby Park.
Stephen Robinson’s men will be backed by a travelling black-and-white army in excess of 2,000 – and many of them will be dreaming about getting their passports stamped in the summer.
Skipper O’Hara knows there is a lot of football to be played over the next two months and nothing has been decided yet.
However, he acknowledges the standard of player in the SMiSA dressing room these days means outsiders should be looking at the Buddies in a different light.
When asked if he thinks Saints are deserving of mixing it in the top six, the 28-year-old commented: “I think we are.
“When you look at the quality of the squad, it’s maybe not what people would expect of us or St Mirren. But hopefully we’re changing that narrative.
“From the management and staff to the players, we’ve got a high-quality squad.
“We’ve got some massive games coming up and we want to ensure we’re still going to be there come the split and end of the season.
“It was good to get into the top six last season. This season, we’re setting our sights higher than that.
“There is a lot of football to be played and we’re not going to just be settling for the top six.
“We want more feelings like we had against Aberdeen and we have to work hard to make sure it’s success we’ve got rather than disappointment at the end of the season.”
It looks set to be a special occasion in East Ayrshire at the weekend with Saints looking for their first win at Killie in 11 years.
“What a game that will be,”
O’Hara added.
“They’ve had a great season and have quality players. It’s going to be a great game to play in.
“We will be taking a big crowd and hopefully that will be the difference to get us over the line.”
O’Hara is glad to be fit and ready for the run-in after being sidelined with a thigh injury for several weeks.
“It’s been a frustrating couple of months,” he said.
“I’ve had a problem with my quad but that’s it settled.
“I’m just so happy to be back on the pitch.”
Meanwhile, two more Buddies aces were called up for international duty yesterday.
Enforcer Alex Gogic is part of the Cyprus squad for their friendlies with Latvia and Serbia while striker Jonah Ayunga will play for Kenya in a four-nation tournment in Malawi.