ST MIRREN legend Barry McLaughlin has backed Jack Ross’ side to beat the drop this season – and then push for the Championship title next year.

Saints fell into the relegation play-off spot on Saturday after going down narrowly to Dundee United and now have just two games left in which to safeguard their place in the division.

The first of those comes on Saturday against Raith Rovers, exactly 17 years to the day from St Mirren beating the same opposition to secure the old first division title.

McLaughlin was among the scorers that day in a 3-0 victory that took the Paisley side back into the top flight after an eight-year absence.

That success came just two seasons after Saints had almost slipped into the third tier of Scottish football, needing a win over Stirling Albion on the second-last day of the campaign to preserve their first division status.

Lifelong Buddie McLaughlin can see the parallels between that scenario and this one, and believes the current crop have what it takes to stay up and then compete at the right end of the table next year.

He told SportTimes: “It’s not great to see St Mirren down towards the foot of the table but in recent months they have been the form team in the Championship and are playing good football so that gives me a bit more confidence that they will stay up.

“They have two massive games left but the way Jack Ross has got them playing should give them a great chance of winning both if they have to. Saturday’s game against Raith is huge but their home form of late has been really good so that will hopefully go in their favour.

“I actually think if they can stay up and Jack can keep the bulk of the squad together then Saints could go on and challenge for the title next season.

“In the last few years the Championship has had some big names in there like Rangers, Hearts, Hibs and Dundee United but the first three are now back in the Premiership and United could still go up, too.

“So I can see St Mirren putting together a real push to go on and win the league next year which would be some turn-around in fortunes.

“First, of course, they have to make sure they stay up this year. When we won the league against Raith in 2000 the stadium – our old ground at Love Street – was absolutely packed and I would hope they could get another bumper crowd in this weekend as this game could be just as important as that one.

“The fans have really got behind the team of late and Jack and the players need them more than ever in these last two matches.”

Hibs will have a major say in who goes down, with their last three matches against the bottom three in the table. They take on Raith tomorrow night, travel to Ayr United on Saturday before welcoming Saints on the final day of the season.

Former defender McLaughlin, known as Trigger, hopes Neil Lennon’s side don’t take their foot off the gas – until they meet the Buddies.

He laughed: “I remember after we won the league we went up to Inverness a week later and lost 5-0 so if Hibs want to play like that on the last day of the season that would be fine by me!

But hopefully they’ll be at their best in their next two games as we don’t really want Raith or Ayr picking up any more points at this stage of the campaign.”