St Mirren need to believe more, says boss Jack Ross

Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to fellow strugglers Dunfermline saw the Buddies lose even more ground to the fifers at the bottom.

The Paisley side now lie seven points behind second-bottom Dumbarton after former Rangers striker Nicky Clark bagged the only goal of the game.

And recently-installed manager Jack admits they need points fast to avoid the unthinkable prospect of slipping into Scottish football’s third tier.

But he is convinced he has the talent in the dressing room to make up the ground on the Sons and Dunfermline.

He said: “The first half hour was not acceptable in terms of the tempo we are looking for. We were a little bit off the game in terms of how high up the park we want to play.

“That is disappointing because we stress that all the time to the players.

“Then with ten minutes to go in the first half we play as if the shackles were off. We addressed that at half-time and then they played with a real impetus and a tempo, but we have still got to do a lot of things better in the final third.

“We put a number of quality balls in the box but we must have the desire and ruthlessness to finish these chances off.”

Jack, who took over at the club six weeks ago, is convinced his men can find self-belief that is vital if they are to grab a league lifeline before the gap becomes too great.

He said: “They are working much harder in training and the tempo has been might higher.

“But the minute that tempo drops off we will find ourselves in a much harder position. But the dressing room is positive.

“They must believe in what they are doing day in and day out. But when you look at our last three games against teams that are higher than us in the league I don’t think anyone can say we didn’t deserve a better result.

“But the players must maintain that belief in each other and they need to feed off me because I will keep believing day in and day out.

“But ultimately I won’t shy away from the fact that we need to turn it into positive points as well.”