St Mirren striker David Clarkson admits that their players have had to re-evaluate their aims for the season, after being shocked at their poor start to the Championship campaign.

The Buddies had backed themselves to be challenging near the top of the table for promotion during pre-season, but they currently sit rock-bottom of the standings after a terrible start that cost manager Alex Rae his job.

With Jack Ross now at the helm, Clarkson isn’t ruling out the chances of a Saints fightback to get into the play-off mix, but for now, his focus is simply on trying to get three points in the bag.

“I think we’ve been surprised to be struggling so much with the players we’ve brought in,” Clarkson said.

“We were hoping like everyone else, the fans and the manager at the time, to have a real good push this year.

“It’s not worked out that way, so we need to re-evaluate where we are and what we want to do.

“It’s important we maybe realise we have to adjust our mind-set to where we are just now, and realise that it’s not just going to happen, we need to work hard at it.

“I feel that has started over the last few weeks and particularly since the gaffer has come in, so it’s up to us to put the performances together and get the results.

“I think just simply trying to win games is the focus. We put an emphasis at the start of the season on getting up the table as quickly as we could and have a push at it, but it’s not happened, so we need to gather ourselves together and if we need to work harder then we need to do that.

“We’re taking each game as it comes now, and hopefully in four or five games time after doing that then we can sit down and re-evaluate the situation that we’re in and where we want to get to.

“We need to recognise the position that we’re in, but no one is thinking we’re going to go down or anything like that at the minute.

“It’s still very early on, but we’re under no illusions that where we are in the league isn’t good enough for our own standards and for the club’s standards.”

Clarkson says that the Saints squad has been enthused by the fresh impetus provided by new manager Ross since his arrival in Paisley.

“The boys seem to be enjoying it and seem to be buying into his ideas,” he said.

“We had the week there with no game and that gave him a chance to work with the squad and put some things across about the way he wants us to play.

“The boys seem to be taking it all on board, so it’s been good so far.

“It was good to get that week, because you’ve only got a short time to prepare for a game and it meant he didn’t have to squeeze too much into a short space of time.

“I think both the players and the gaffer will benefit from it.”

Ross couldn’t have asked for a tougher set of fixtures to kick off his reign, with the home defeat to Dundee United last time out being followed by a trip to take on Hibs today.

Clarkson scored the winner though when his side last visited Easter Road just a couple of weeks ago in the Irn-Bru Cup, and that has given the whole squad belief that they can return west with something from the game.

“A repeat would be great, but hopefully it’s a bit more comfortable than that was,” he said.

“It was a great result that people maybe weren’t expecting us to get, and that gives the boys confidence and hopefully we can take that into the game on Saturday."