Marcus Fraser calls on St Mirren to stop the costly slip-ups
Marcus Fraser admits that St Mirren must find a solution to their inconsistent form after defeat to St Johnstone dragged them closer to the relegation zone.
The Premiership’s bottom side won on Paisley soil for the first time since December 2018 on Saturday thanks to a second-half Bozo Mikulic strike. The 1-0 defeat comes just a week after Stephen Robinson’s side produced a scintillating performance at Pittodrie to blow Aberdeen away 3-0.
Frustrated Fraser revealed the Buddies held an emergency summit after Saturday’s loss – with everyone in the dressing room in agreement that their inconsistency has left them uncomfortably close to the relegation play-off spot.
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“Yeah, we just had a wee chat about it,” said the experienced defender. “Of course, some teams we are playing against, like last week against Aberdeen, for instance, we go there and put on a good performance.
“[But here] we don’t have the best performance. We probably lacked intensity and quality as well. So, I think as players, we need to look at when we are not at the top of our game. How can we not lose that game?
“It was a tight match; there weren’t many shots in the game and goalkeepers didn’t have too much to do. We need to make sure that when we go out onto that pitch that if we don’t win it, we don’t want lose it. That’s the most disappointing aspect.”
Fans had been dreaming of a third top-six finish in succession but with the likes of Hibernian and Hearts hitting form, the Buddies now face a huge challenge in delivering that feat.
Fraser admits they now must string a run of results together and find a way to score when on top in games – or be punished like they were at the weekend against the Perth Saints.
He said: “The first half, I don’t think they get into our half to be honest. We played football in their half, and we sometimes got our press right and sometimes we got it wrong.
“But in the main, we had St Johnstone a little bit. The biggest disappointment is that, in the second half, when they had their little spell, they got that goal.
“It is then an uphill task there as we didn’t create enough to find our way back into the game. We know the next five games are massive but so was this game. We know how important getting back-to-back wins is in this league.
“We go up to Aberdeen, win 3-0 and put in a great performance, and we spoke all week about how we need to capitalise on that. That is why it is a frustration of ours as to why we lost the game.”
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