Calum Gallagher says there's a lot of optimism from the players following the first few weeks of Jack Ross' reign as manager. Ross is beginning his third full week at the club this week and Gallagher admits he's enjoyed the manager's new training methods as the gaffer looks to put his own stamp on the St Mirren team.
"It has been excellent," Gallagher said. "There's been a real intensity to it and he's bedding down his philosophy and the boys are really enjoying it so far. There's a great energy about the place and we're delighted to have him in.
"Just to have a new spark at the place; new ideas, new philosophy, new style of play and a new ethos, it's really benefitting the boys. We've got a lot of optimism looking towards the next few weeks and to the rest of the season."
Saints face two tough away fixtures in the next week or so as they square up to Hibernian at Easter Road on Saturday and Renfrewshire rivals Greenock Morton at Cappielow on Tuesday 1 November and Gallagher believes that the players are feeling excited about the games more than anything.
It's a total cliche but you've got to take each game as it comes. Over the last 18 months while I've been here we've always given a good account of ourselves at Easter Road. It's not a game that weighs too heavily on our minds, we don't feel any added pressure because of the win. It's a great place to play football and we're all really excited for it and looking to have a repeat of last time.
"There's a saying in football that the big games handle themselves. I don't know how the gaffer will feel about coming into the big games, a sort of baptism of fire as it were, but it'll be a great start for him. The boys are looking to get results and two big games like that can really help kick start our season."
The Buddies face three home games in a row after next week's derby clash and Gallagher reflected on a good spell at home last season as motivation for those upcoming matches.
We went on a run last year at home after a poor first half of the season and we built on that. We used those home wins to build the rest of our season on and it gave us a real lift. We'll have the fans behind us and we are looking forward to it, but we have two big games coming up so our focus is mostly on those."
The forward admitted that the fans support means a lot to the players and hopes that the team will be able to reward them in the coming weeks and months.
"It means a lot to the boys," he said. "Over the last few weeks we have began to play a bit and shown that enthusiasm to play and the fans really feed off that and have given us a lot of energy on the field. It's really important for us as players to have the backing of the fans. They do a great job showing up in their numbers cheering us on, so we'll be looking to pay them thanks for it."
