IAN MURRAY, the St Mirren manager, has sought to ease concerns about the plight of his team by reassuring supporters that now is not the time to panic.
Going into tonight’s Ladbrokes Championship match in Paisley against Raith Rovers, the club that was relegated from last season’s Premiership has only recorded one win this campaign to sit three off the bottom. It is far from what many had hoped would be a fresh start for St Mirren after a year of demoralising defeats and woeful bouts of below-par performances.
Murray, who only took charge in the summer, acknowledges that the situation is not what he, his staff or supporters had hoped for, but he has reassured fans that there are grounds for optimism around St Mirren Park.
He said: “We know we don’t have as many points as we would have hoped for by this stage of the season, but on the flip side we are still very much in the mix for a top-four place without playing really well.
“That is the message. We completely and utterly understand we are not where we want to be after this amount of games. We are not going to dress it up in any other way.
“But we are also conscious that this league is so, so competitive, everyone takes points off everyone. When you start to panic it can make things worse.
“Things change very, very quickly. Falkirk are sitting second, but they will be saying ‘It’s a fantastic start but don’t get complacent’.
“Every single week there is a team that drops points that will get leapfrogged by someone else.
“It’s certainly not the time to panic, that is for sure.”
Murray is keen to accentuate the positives over the last few weeks ahead of tonight’s match against Raith Rovers in Paisley.
After beating Queens in Dumfries two weeks ago, an impressive first half against Falkik was only undone by a poor second period.
The St Mirren manager said: “The guys have been good this week, although they normally are to be fair to them. The result on Saturday was disappointing for about 48 hours but you then have to pick yourself up and go again.
“We need to try and take the positives out of the situation. Over the last two games, three out of the four halves have been exceptionally good but we also let ourselves down in a vital one, too."
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