ST MIRREN boss Gus MacPherson insisted his players can't afford to switch off despite finishing in the bottom six – because they risk losing their place in his side.
The Love Street manager laughed off suggestions that Saturday's 3-2 defeat to Hearts was a meaningless fixture because neither club is involved in the championship or battle for Europe and there is no threat of relegation.
And he maintained that t
here was still plenty for his squad to play for: "There is never a meaningless game, they are professionals and they have pride in their performance.
"The players are being judged all the time, whether that be by supporters, neutrals or most importantly the coaching staff.
"They can't let themselves down, every time they go out and play we are looking at them and judging them.
"Their attitude in training has been spot-on, we can't question them on that but we are still disappointed.
"You can't kid people on, especially coaching staff. You can see by the way they go about their business just how much it means to them."
MacPherson felt his side deserved to take something from a game they contributed so much to, including a stunning opener from Ryan McCay inside the opening 20 minutes. He added: "I am disappointed we didn't take anything from it. You can be pleased with the performance but when you are in this game it is all about picking up points.
"Ryan McCay's strike was outstanding. He is capable of that, and it was a fantastic strike. We see it all the time in shooting drills when we are training.
"You knew as soon as it left his boot, just by the trajectory of it that it was going in and coming down underneath the crossbar.
"That's one of the positives of it but ultimately we are disappointed after playing in the manner that we did, that we took nothing from the game.
"We have got three home games coming up now but we have set ourselves no targets, apart from the fact that we want to win as many of them as possible."
The full article contains 360 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
