JOHN McGINN reckons it's time St Mirren's struggling stars started doing their talking on the pitch after taking part in a series of clear-the-air chats off it.

The Buddies kid is set to return in today's William Hill Scottish Cup tie with Inverness Caley Thistle after spending much of November on the sidelines with a knee injury.

The 20-year-old midfield ace has been forced to watch his team-mates toil from the stand after joining a lengthy casualty list.

McGinn admits the Paisley side's current form has made for unpleasant viewing but he believes a sense of unity and a few home truths can help haul them out of the mire.

He said: "We are a group of players who should be challenging higher up the table. It's not nice to be down there and we are determined to get out of it.

"There have been some honest words said. We are all in it together - we are all to blame and we have all done things wrong.

"The manager will admit he's done some things wrong but he is behind us and we are all behind him.

"We have these wee meetings quite often. It's good to address things."

McGinn, who had joined key players such as Steven Thompson and Isaac Osbourne on the injury list, added: "It's been tough to watch. And it's been busy in the stand.

"We've been struggling to get enough seats for all our injured players.

"This is the first time I've really had an injury to cope with. It's been frustrating because we've not won since I've been out.

"But, then again, we weren't winning when I was in either.

"You kick every ball in the stand. You just want to be out there helping the boys and it's difficult.

"I'm back in contention for the Scottish Cup game and hopefully, along with the other boys coming back, we can start to turn it around a bit.

"I believe that getting through to the next round could be the springboard for our season."