ST MIRREN star Stevie Mallan admitted his birthday celebrations had fallen a bit flat after losing the Irn-Bru Cup final to Dundee United. The midfielder turned 21 on Saturday and hoped to mark it by collecting the first winner’s medal of his senior career. Instead Mallan, who has joined up with the Scotland under-21s for their friendly against Estonia tomorrow, couldn’t prevent Saints from going down 2-1 to United at a sun-kissed Fir Park.

He said: “It was so gutting to be honest to lose on my birthday. I thought in the first half we had a few chances and could have been a couple up but it was 50:50 in the second half. When United got the second goal we pushed more people forward to get the equaliser but couldn’t get it so it is gutting for all the boys. We are all hurting right now. The fans were immense and I didn’t expect that level of support. We wanted to send them home happy so not being able to do that is heart-breaking.”

Mallan admitted it wasn’t easy watching Ray McKinnon and his players get the trophy but hoped Saints could put Saturday’s disappointment behind them as they look to ensure their Championship safety.

He added: “It was tough to watch Dundee United lift the cup. It’s my first time watching someone else getting a trophy and you just wish it was you. I don’t ever want to be in that position again. This puts us in a good position now, though, because none of us want to experience this disappointment again. That will spur us on in the league because that’s the most important thing. The gaffer said to keep our heads up. Every game now is like a cup final for us, so we don’t want to feel like this again.”

Malan felt the next two league matches were more important than the final as St Mirren try to get off the foot of the table.

He added: “We have games against Ayr and Dumbarton. It’s a huge fortnight for us. Everybody knows we have to win both games. Those games are more important than the final. St Mirren shouldn’t be getting relegated and we will be doing everything in our power to make sure it doesn’t happen.

“A couple of months ago the gaffer sat us all down and went through every fixture to see how many points we should be looking to get. I think we are currently level with the target we set. It’s a shift in mentality – we are not expecting to lose any game we go into now. We have beaten both Hibs and Dundee United in the league very recently. When you beat teams like that, you expect to go out and win every game because you know what you’re capable of.

“Teams don’t look at us as the bottom team anymore. They look at us as St Mirren. It feels like the club has its identity back again.”