Ross confronts angry fans as suffering Saints crash at home
Queens stun toiling Saints as new boys make all the difference
ST MIRREN manager Jack Ross last night explained why he confronted supporters in the main stand immediately following a home defeat that kept his side rooted to the bottom of the Ladbrokes Championship.
Ross stepped into the crowd and was seen in animated discussion for several minutes with a clutch of disgruntled fans who had turned on the manager as Saints were beaten 3-0 by Queen of the South.
He departed up the tunnel to a round of applause following the chat. Saints remain mired in relegation trouble, seven points adrift of the play-off berth and nine from safety.
‘I didn’t think the frustration was being vented appropriately from one particular supporter, so I think I’ve got the right to say that to him,’ said Ross, who was accompanied in the debate by his assistant James Fowler.
‘I did it in a calm, relaxed manner that, hopefully, was sensible enough. I think both he and those around him appreciated that.
‘I’m not deflecting away from my responsibility in the job. I’m just saying: “Come and speak to me about it sensibly”.
‘You can express an opinion but you must always believe you can speak constructively. We may still disagree about certain things, as we probably did, which is fine.
‘I don’t think it was dramatic. I’d take criticism and, hopefully, respond to it in a sensible manner.
‘When we lost to Dumbarton, I went to the supporters’ bar and said to them to come and speak in a reasonable way any time. That was the same message this time.’
BEING smart out of the traps in the January sales proved to be the difference between two needy sides.
As St Mirren wait for Craig Storie to start tomorrow after securing his loan move from Aberdeen, Gary Naysmith fielded three new boys from his shopping expedition last week as Queen of the South won a Ladbrokes Championship game for the first time since September 17.
John Rankin, straight in as captain on his debut, set up Stephen Dobbie for his 17th goal of the season on the stroke of half-time.
Motherwell’s Dom Thomas then played a part in the build-up to Joe Thomson of Celtic securing victory with nine minutes to go as the Premiership loan duo made a quick impression. Gary MacKenzie’s own goal piled on the misery for Saints.
As energy and impetus was added to a sinking season for Queens by a trio of new faces, this was the same old story for a St Mirren side anchored to the foot of the division.
All of which called for an inquest, albeit ideally not the immediate one conducted behind the home dugout following the final whistle.
Responding to abusive remarks from the crowd, boss Jack Ross waded into the argument to explain to a clutch of fans that he was doing his best to resolve the multitude of issues keeping Saints in desperate relegation peril. On this evidence, that list is getting longer.
This was a smash and grab to crack any core of hope that remains in Paisley because Queens took each of their three outright chances.
St Mirren were the better team in the first period and should have been ahead before Dobbie struck.
However, that did not stop Ross berating the efforts of his team.
‘They played with a lack of desire and heart,’ said Ross. ‘If you don’t have that, everything else becomes difficult. The players know I will accept mistakes if they do it with a passion and desire. If they don’t, you can’t accept that.’
The straw-grasping exercise in Paisley last night was noting that Ayr United and Dumbarton both fell to defeats, meaning that no ground had been lost on the strugglers. Still, the gap is seven points to the play-off place and nine points from safety.
A rot that set in when Danny Lennon was removed and replaced by Tommy Craig in May 2014, the subsequent appointments of Gary Teale, Ian Murray and Alex Rae failed to arrest a sorry slide in fortunes.
Kenny McLean and John McGinn were in the Saints side that only two years ago kicked off the New Year with a top-flight home defeat to Kilmarnock. Jason Naismith and Stevie Mallan are survivors from that day. It emerged yesterday that the Ross who Naismith will play for next is County — and not Jack — after he agreed pre-contract terms with the Dingwall side.
Small steps of improvement was how Ross had described the work of his side in the past two months. Giant leaps are required, starting at Dunfermline next Saturday.
Their failure to force the ball home from a cluster of first-half chances sowed the seeds of concern.
Queens had toiled to construct a chance of their own but a Saints implosion presented them with the lead.
Rocco Quinn trod on the ball 25 yards from his own goal to allow Rankin to seize possession. He fed Dobbie, who dinked a clever finish past Scott Gallacher.
Kyle McAllister’s superb volley from 20 yards rattled the crossbar on the hour and Naismith couldn’t find the target on the follow-up. The creeping feeling that Queens would score against the run of play again was not misplaced and the loan lads did the damage.
Thomas had his shot pushed away by Gallacher. Dobbie hit the post on the rebound and Parkhead teenager Thomson, fresh from a stint at Dumbarton, collected that loose ball to tuck home.
As Saints heads stayed bowed, MacKenzie converted a shot from Lyndon Dykes into his own net to round off another desperate day.
For Queens, they can begin to look up the table rather than behind after Naysmith’s first win — and with new signings to lift their club. Rankin, who left Falkirk last week, said: ‘The new lads didn’t have that feeling of not winning for 13 league games, so that might have helped. Our season starts now.
‘I can hopefully help out. The energy of Dom and Joe in getting forward and creating chances. We need to look forward and see who we can catch next in the table. You can see in the dressing room the place is buzzing.’