Lennon: St Mirren won’t ‘dwindle by’ until cup final

Published on 23/02/2013 04:35

ST MIRREN manager Danny Lennon warned his players that coasting in the SPL will harm their chances of winning the Scottish Communities League Cup next month.

St Mirren will play Hearts in the Hampden final on 17 March but Lennon is concentrating for the moment solely on a top-six finish in the SPL. A 1-0 home defeat at the hands of Hibs last week kept Saints second bottom of the table, 15 points ahead of Dundee, who parted company with manager Barry Smith on Wednesday.

The Paisley manager is looking for improvement when he takes his side to St Johnstone today. “We have good quality and I certainly believe we failed to show those qualities last week,” said Lennon. “If any of our players have a notion that they can dwindle by until the final – which I don’t think is the case – then we certainly won’t be at our best on cup final day. We are at our best when we are at it week-in, week-out.

“The standard of football last week was certainly not our best and not acceptable for important games coming up. The players know that and will look to rectify it on Saturday. We have a very important game on 17 March but where our bread and butter is and where primarily you are judged upon, is our league position.”

St Johnstone boss Steve Lomas is looking ahead to “six cup finals” in the league as he hopes to clinch a top-six spot.

Saints moved into fifth place with a 1-1 home draw against Celtic on Tuesday night but they are still only eight points ahead of second-bottom St Mirren.

The Northern Irishman said: “It is a great endorsement for the league and kind of bizarre that they are looking at massive reconstruction when quite possibly we have had one of the most interesting leagues in a long time, albeit people can say that Celtic have run away with it. It is going to be a tough game because St Mirren have been slightly under the radar and they have a Scottish Communities League Cup final coming up to boot.

“Okay, they are second-bottom but they will be thinking that they can come and get a win and get closer to us That is the good thing about this season, it is all to play for over the next six or seven weeks. The next six games are our six cup finals. We have as good a chance as anybody of making the top six though you could make a case for everybody. But I think that’s good for the game.”