GUS MacPHERSON has rallied to the defence of under-fire St Mirren gaffer Ian Murray.

The current Queen's Park boss steered Saints to the top flight and a League Cup final in his seven-year stint at the club.

And he admits it has hurt to see his former club struggle this season.

Murray was handed the Paisley hot seat after impressing at Dumbarton.

But a string of poor results has seen the club languishing in eighth place near the foot of the Ladbrokes Championship.

MacPherson, though, is convinced Murray has the mettle to reverse Saints form slump and guide them back up the league.

"They’re going through a difficult period at the moment," the former Buddies boss said.

"But you look at the squad they’ve built up there in the short period of time that Ian Murray has come in and they’ve added experience.

"The experience in itself should be enough to guide them out of this situation at the moment. It’s a very tough league, the Championship.

"There’s some strong teams in there out with Rangers and Hibs. It’s a difficult period but I’m sure they’ll get through it."

He added: "St Mirren should be in the Premiership. No doubt about it.

"With the resources that they’ve got. The facilities that they’ve now got in place - which we were part of in the process of building all that up.

"And it’s even worse now when you see them struggling. You want to see them back in the top flight and in to the latter stages of cup competitions as well."

MacPherson’s side take on Peterhead in the semi-final of the Petrofac Training Cup tomorrow at Hampden.

The game will give the 47-year-old coach his first shot at silverware since winning the Challenge Cup with St Mirren in 2006.

He said: "All the lads are looking forward to it. It's a big game for the club.

"It's a semi-final which means we are just one game away from being in a final.

"So it means a lot to the players. We want to do well and we want to give ourselves a shot at winning some silverware.

"We know Peterhead will be tough. Jim McInally has them playing well so we know what we're up against.

"But we're in good shape ourselves and we will give it everything."