LIFE in the fast lane seems to suit Gregg Wylde following a slow start to his time in Paisley.

The St Mirren winger was part of a Buddies team that seemed to struggle to find their groove last season under Danny Lennon.

Brought to the club in January, the pacey former Rangers wide-man hoped to finally be on the right path after moves to Bolton and Aberdeen both seemed to halt his progression as one of the country's most promising young talents.

Yet the spring appears to be back in the step of the 23-year-old. Wylde was a potent threat down the flank at Fir Park last weekend despite St Mirren being hard done by in a 1-0 defeat.

And, ahead of tonight's SPFL Premiership tie with Hamilton, the winger has attributed his new lease of life to the fast-paced training new manager Tommy Craig has brought to his squad.

He said: "Danny Lennon brought me here in January and showed a lot of faith in me because I'd had a hard few years before that.

"But Tommy, Jim Goodwin and Gary Teale have also been really good for me.

"Everyone is loving training and the boys are buzzing. Morale is really good.

"Training is all high tempo stuff. There's a lot of crossing and shooting and possession games, two versus one and two versus two.

"We have longer sessions, too - the other day we didn't finish until one o'clock. The boss wants us to work hard.

"It also makes a difference having guys who are still playing involved on the coaching side because we have a young squad."

Despite Saturday's defeat, the Buddies have the opportunity to kickstart their season as Hamilton visit St Mirren Park this evening.

Saints suffered a slow start to their campaign last term, a run which they struggled to fully recover from.

So it's understandable Wylde is keen to get their season up and running tonight and set the right tone from the off.

He said: "We were disappointed with the result on Saturday because we played well but goals change games and we need to get that out of our system now.

"The manager has a philosophy of playing football so we'll continue to attack teams. He's brought a bit of pace into the squad as well, which we saw at Fir Park.

"We're hoping to get that first win and then go on a wee run. The manager has told us that we're three points behind already and that we need to catch up.

"We thought we were the better team against Motherwell but we don't want any more hard luck stories. We can't allow our heads to go down either because we went to a tough place and faced the team which finished second last season.

"Last year we didn't win too many away games but our home form is much more important. If we can win those then we can build on that throughout the season.

"But we want to make a name for ourselves as winners - we don't want people to think that we're the same old St Mirren."