The ex-Hamilton Accies man was given a versatile role in the nine-goal thriller with Ross County at the weekend being asked to patrol the left flank before being handed a half-time switch on to the right wing.

Although the 29-year-old has yet to score for St Mirren, Lennon has highlighted his contribution as increasingly important to the Paisley cause and after Saints' 5-4 win over Derek Adams' men took them fourth, the Buddies manager is looking for another big game from Imrie at St Johnstone on Saturday.

Lennon said: "Dougie got through a massive amount of work in pre-season and I think we are starting to reap the rewards from that. Dougie also gets through an awful lot during a game and his work-rate and commitment is second to none.

"We gave him a bit of free role against County and he paid us back with a fine performance. What I am looking for from him is that level of performance week in, week out. We have real competition for places right through the squad and the lads know that to stay in the side they must deliver every time."

Lennon was also delighted with the goals running through his team against County with all three main strikers in Stevie Thompson, Sam Parkin and Lewis Guy on target.

The Saints boss said: "It is really pleasing when your strikers are all on the scoresheet and I felt as if all three of them were excellent on Saturday. We have now won three of our last four matches and can go to St Johnstone with some momentum behind us.

"But again from my point of view we were able to change things around against County and give them different problems and it worked out nicely."

But with St Johnstone on a five-game unbeaten run, that includes a 2-1 McDiarmid Park triumph over Celtic, Lennon knows that no repeat of the defensive frailties in the County win can be repeated.

He said: "The first-half against County was unacceptable by our standards. I was also particularly frustrated with the third goal we conceded and we can't afford to make sloppy mistakes like that at McDiarmid Park or we will be well punished.

"Going to places like Perth and being able to carve out a result is crucial to our hopes of staying in the top six and we look forward to the challenge. The big plus for us is that we are creating chances and we are starting to take a greater proportion of them.

"If we can tighten things up a bit more at the back then hopefully we will get the balance right."

Meanwhile Paul McGowan could be facing a lengthy spell out with a shoulder injury.