JASON NAISMITH reckons St Mirren's transfer dealings over the last 1e months are at the root of their Premiership problems.

The Buddies edged closer to the top-flight trap door as they crashed to a 3-0 defeat to Partick Thistle, and will be relegated on Friday night if Motherwell beat Kilmarnock.

A nightmare start to the campaign under Tommy Craig left Gary Teale with a mountain to climb when he stepped into the Paisley dug-out.

And defender Naismith reckons deals like the one that took key man Kenny McLean to Aberdeen in January have undermined the Buddies' survival chances.

He said: "We just haven't been good enough on the field of play. We have not really had a style of play, I don't think. The start of the season was abysmal.

"From December onwards, we picked up a bit, but we lost Kenny to Aberdeen, who was a big influence, and never really replaced him. From last season, we never replaced the players that left.

"Darren McGregor went to Rangers, and I don't think we replaced him at centre-back. We have just not been good enough as a team for the full season. It is as simple as that."

Naismith was the centre of the controversial moment of the match at Firhill as whistler Craig Thomson waved away a penalty claim in the first half.

But the 20-year-old insists the Buddies can't point the finger at the officials after another poor performance and Premiership loss.

Naismith said: "I don't think we can blame the referee because, at the end of the day, our performance wasn't good enough either. If you don't get a decision like that, you need to react to it and we didn't do well enough.

"In the second half, we were so lethargic. We were passing the ball aimlessly and not going anywhere, it was like an end-of-season game.

"That can't happen. We needed to win every game and I am frustrated we didn't get the ball forward quicker and were more directly. It was disappointing."