John Sutton stressed that St Mirren have to keep going in their bid to avoid relegation ahead of tomorrow's match against Falkirk.
The Englishman made his 100th start for St Mirren in Tuesday night's win over Morton, becoming the third Buddies player this season to do so.
He marked the occasion in the perfect manner, scoring his 43rd goal for the Saints, as an impressive performance saw St Mirren defeat their Renfrewshire rivals 4-1 and move out of the relegation play-off spot.
Having not beaten Morton until Tuesday, the striker admits he was delighted to finally get one over Morton - not just for the players, but for the supporters who he praised for their backing throughout the season. And now he is urging his teammates to keep going until the end of the season.
Speaking to stmirren.com, he said: “It was fantastic. The result on Saturday wasn’t exactly what we wanted but it lifted us off the bottom.
Coming into tonight’s game we knew we could get out of the relegation places. We let ourselves down a couple times in the derby this season so it was terrific to get the win. It was a terrific performance from everyone, really solid at the back and obviously four goals at the end means it was a great night”
“The fans have been brilliant. St Mirren should be challenging at the top of the table and I think everyone knows that. We’ve been down the bottom and cut adrift to an extent but I can’t remember the fans giving us any pelters. It is a great result for them and I think the players are so happy for them as well.
"We’ve just got to kick on now and try and finish the job off. It’s in our own hands now. It’s a tricky run in we’ve got with away games and playing the top teams in the league but there’s no reason why we can’t do it.”
Having been in the relegation zone for much of the season, recent form has lifted the Buddies in to eighth in the table.
It's a remarkable turnaround for a side that was eight points adrift just last month.
Its brilliant," Sutton said of the changes in fortunes. "I remember the game against Ayr who was the next team above us at the time and it was such a massive result for us. We really kicked on from there.
"To be fair to teams like Ayr and Dumbarton they picked up good results as well. So we had to go on a good run of form.
"It’s an incredible turnaround. The frustrating thing is we felt we had ability in the group but now we’ve actually managed to do it on the field.”
The Buddies currently sit one point above Raith Rovers and three points clear of bottom placed Ayr United. The last four fixtures include tough away trips to Falkirk, Dundee United and league leaders Hibernian. But Sutton is confident the side can pick up the results to avoid relegation.
It's about as tough a run as you could probably get," he said. "But we’re confident and our form is good. We know we are capable of it. I think everyone will enjoy tonight but we need to concentrate on the next game. The ability is there to pick up results.”
