MARK RIDGERS felt he had little choice but to go on loan to Kilmarnock after discovering St Mirren manager Ian Murray “didn’t fancy him” as his number one. Ridgers signed an emergency deal until January after Gary Locke’s side were left without a senior goalkeeper for their League Cup tie with Hearts due to injuries and player ineligibility. The 25 year-old went on to make his debut in the game at Rugby Park on Wednesday night but could not stop Kilmarnock going down 3-2 after losing two late goals.
Ridgers had started the season as St Mirren’s first-choice goalkeeper but the arrival of Jamie Langfield as player/coach from Aberdeen last month saw him relegated to the bench. That prompted a clear-the-air chat between Murray, Langfield and the player where Ridgers felt promises made to him in the summer hadn’t been kept.
He said: “The situation with myself at St Mirren wasn’t great. Initially I didn’t think it was for the best for me to come to Kilmarnock but having spoken to the manager he clearly never fancied me at St Mirren. I won’t say what was said - it was the manager, Jamie Langfield and myself in the office. Some things were said at the start of the season which weren’t kept. But that’s all I’ll say about that.
“I was working hard in training and he was always very complimentary but at the end of the day he [Murray] obviously preferred the experience that Jamie had and he kept playing him. After speaking to him I felt it was in my best interests to go out and I’m looking forward to it. It will be good to work with Jamie MacDonald again and Billy Thomson.
“It’s a fresh challenge for me like when I first went to St Mirren and people questioned that with Marian Kello being there but I got into the team and stayed until the end of the season.
“I didn’t think I did much wrong at the start of this season and then found myself out of the team. Now I’ve joined Kilmarnock and got the opportunity to play due to an unfortunate injury for Jamie [MacDonald].
“I’m here to work hard and if I can get the opportunity to keep playing back at the top level then great because that’s the reason I joined Kilmarnock. I’m really looking forward to the challenge.”
Ridgers could find himself back on the bench again this weekend with MacDonald close to a recovery but he hopes his display on Wednesday night at least gives manager Gary Locke something to think about.
He added: “Jamie is close to fitness so I can understand if the manager puts him straight back in because he’s been excellent for Kilmarnock. I’ve seen the highlights and know the kind of keeper he is.
“But he knows he’s got competition in his back and I’m here to try and push him all the way and he steps up his game then it will help Kilmarnock and that’s what we want to do - try and progress and get as high up the league as we can.
“I’m here until January but I want to get positive results. I’m in a fortunate situation because if something happens to Jamie Langfield at St Mirren then they have an option to bring me back so I could end up playing there or I could keep playing at Kilmarnock.
“When we went down at St Mirren there was interest from a few teams but I decided to stay on. Things didn’t work out and I’ve moved on.”
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