DAVID VAN ZANTEN today revealed St Mirren boss Danny Lennon was the key factor behind him penning a new one-year deal with the club.

The defender yesterday put pen to paper on a contract that will keep him in Paisley until next summer.

Van Zanten first moved to St Mirren Park in 2003 before joining for a second time two years ago, and has been an integral part of Lennon's plans this term as the Buddies have secured their Scottish Premier League status for another season.

St Mirren have impressed in Lennon's second campaign in the dugout and van Zanten is confident there is a bright future ahead for the club after signing on the dotted line.

He said: "I'm over the moon to get my imme- diate future sorted out and delighted to still be with St Mirren.

"I've been here at St Mirren for seven years out of the last nine and to get a chance to put at least another year on to that is a great feeling.

"This season I've been playing regularly and, more importantly, I've been really enjoying my football here and enjoying the way the team plays.

"I like the way manager Danny Lennon and Tommy Craig go about their business and how they like to play the game."

He added: "You don't see players with the one club for so long these days, obviously I went away for a couple of seasons and came back, but St Mirren are a great football club, I can't praise the club highly enough to be honest.

"I feel very fortunate to have played here for seven years now and I'm delighted to extend that with hopefully a few more years after that again.

"I think I have plenty more years left in me as a football player, so I'm happy for that to be at St Mirren and hopefully that starts with another successful year next season."

With their SPL berth secure, St Mirren can now focus their attentions on claiming seventh place in the standings and end the campaign on a high.

The Buddies have been serial relegation battlers since returning to the top flight, but van Zanten hopes they can finish with a flourish this time.

He said: "That worry of relegation is away and believe me it is a horrible situation to be in when you are part of it.

"But while we don't have relegation worries, the pressure is still there as our aim for the remainder of the season is to finish in seventh place.

"The manager told us in training that we have five cup finals coming up so, for me, if we could win enough of them to earn seventh place it would be a really great finish to our season.

"And it would give us a good platform to work from for next season."