St Mirren boss Gary Teale says he will take the responsibility for motivating his struggling team -even though he should not have to.

The Buddies lie 10 points adrift at the bottom of the Premier-ship with just five games left and look a lost cause.

The relegation-bound Paisley men have slumped to seven defeats from their last eight games, while they have now played 437 minutes of top-flight action without finding the net.

But Teale insists his players should not need any hand-holding for tomorrow's home fixture with Kilmarnock.

He said: "The only thing we need to motivate them is to remind the guys this is their job and they get paid very well to do it.

"The fans pay their money to come along and see something on the pitch, so at the end of the day, self pride should be the biggest motivating factor.

"But I understand it's up to me to get the players up for this game tomorrow.

"I just try to make it as upbeat as I can and hope that takes some of the pressure away from the boys."

Teale will have to ring the changes for Killie's visit.

Centre-halves Jim Goodwin and Viktor Genev are both suspended, while defender Marc McAusland, midfielder Isaac Osbourne and striker Callum Ball have all quit the club a month early after their contracts were mutually terminated.

"There will be a few changes," admitted the manager. "It will be achance for a couple of boys who have been on the periphery of things recently

"The dressing room is a bit thin on numbers now.

"Ozzy has been injured and wouldn't play again this season, while big Callum hasn't really kicked on the way we'd been looking for him to do, so both have been allowed to leave, too."