Gary Irvine has urged St Mirren supporters to keep backing the team ahead of Saturday's Ladbrokes Championship clash with Ayr United.
The right back praised the fans for their support at Saturday's IRN-BRU Cup final and said that their backing over the last few months has helped boost the players' confidence.
And with ninth place Ayr visiting Paisley on Saturday, Irvine has asked the fans to continue giving the team the same backing as they look to haul themselves from the foot of the table.
The fans were brilliant at the weekend," he told stmirren.com. "The noise they were making was brilliant and the backing they gave us was really good. Even afterwards us as a team we mixed with supporters in one of the lounges. To see the amount there was encouraging and they wished us all the best and thanked us - it was brilliant.
"That's the kind of support that, as players, it does help you, you feed off it. When you feel like you have backing in the stands it gives you extra confidence.
"They are there watching the games every week. They understand and they appreciate when they see hard work and I think that's what we are giving as a team. I'd probably say that the last few months their backing has been brilliant and the support they have given us has played a big part on the way the team is playing and the confidence it has built.
"It's a thank you to them but it's asking them to keep it going as well. It's a big massive part coming up and we do need them."
Irvine says that the squad have shown strong character and an increased sense of confidence, summed up by Rory Loy's equalising goal in Saturday's final. Tony Andreu gave Dundee United the lead, but the Buddies were back on level terms within a minute when Loy scooped home Irvine's cross. And the defender believes that the team will have to exhibit that mentality in the last seven league matches of this season.
Them scoring that goal was kind of out of nothing. Instead of letting the head down we got the ball from centre and within 30 seconds we were up and got a goal back. That's the kind of character we need to show now for the remainder of the season.
"The boys have come in and right from Monday morning we've just got our heads up and got on with things. We know what's ahead of us now. The cup final was a good occasion even though the result didn't go our way. But our focus and our mindset is the league and the position we are in and we know that is in front of us right now.
"We knew coming in yesterday it was getting back to work and working hard for the game on Saturday.
"It's a massive game and I think it's really important that we have a good week now. Credit to the boys, we have come in and we've shown a good attitude. We just need to continue that throughout the week and take it into the weekend.
"We've managed to claw ourselves back," he continued. "We've been playing really good stuff and we've been getting a lot of plaudits from everywhere. All we can do is keep doing the same things and hopefully picking up results."
While Saints will also host Dumbarton in another massive league match next week, Irvine says all focus is on this Saturday's match against Ayr as the Buddies look to make it five wins from seven league matches.
I think the mindset of the boys is one game at a time," he confessed. "We don't want to start looking up two and three places above ourselves because that's not the position we're in. The mindset is always just looking at the game that's in hand, getting the three points and going into the next game after that.
"I think the position we are in now and how tight the league has become at the bottom every game is massive. Every team that we come up against is a huge game for us knowing what the rewards are and hopefully we can catch up with a team."
