GARY Teale has targeted seventh spot in the SPL after St Mirren's hopes of finishing in the top half of the table died.

The Buddies needed to beat Celtic in Paisley on Sunday to keep alive their slim chances of surviving the split.

Despite a superb performance against the Scottish champions, they could only draw 1-1.

Teale, who deservedly picked up the Man-of-the-Match award, was disappointed they narrowly failed to record the victory.

The 34-year-old now wants Danny Lennon's side to improve upon the eighth-placed finish they recorded last season.

As he prepared to face Kilmarnock at Rugby Park tomorrow, he said: "Winning the League Cup Final was great and we all enjoyed the experience.

"But now we have to try and move on. We want to finish the league in seventh spot in the SPL this season.

"When I first joined St Mirren a couple of years ago one of our stated goals, to finish in the top half of the table. It is disappointing we won't manage to do that.

"But we finished eighth last year and we want to go one better than that.

"I think the performance and result against Celtic will give us confidence."

Teale added: "The club is progressing on and off the park. There are great facilities being put in place here that will help the club in the future. The foundations for long-term stability are there.

"There are great initiatives for the family to come to matches and the indoor soccerdome is getting built.

"The club is always thinking of ways to move forward. We have to show we are moving forward on the park and finishing higher than we did last season and having won the cup would show that we have done that."

Referee Bobby Madden was heavily criticised by Celtic manager Neil Lennon following the game on Easter Sunday for a string of controversial rulings.

But Teale, who had a goal chalked off in the first half, felt St Mirren had every reason to feel aggrieved with the official's performance too.

He stated: "If you look back on the decisions, the sending off was a bit harsh and the penalty we got is highly debatable.

"But I think the decisions over the course of the 90 minutes balanced themselves out.

"I thought the goal that was disallowed was a goal and we should have had a penalty right on the stroke of half-time. We came off such a high in the cup final that there was a chance could have experienced a dip.

"But we couldn't have had a better game than one against Celtic live on television.

"You want to test yourself in a game against the best team in the league.

"Rightly or wrongly, most teams raise themselves for a game like that and we were no different. It was a good display."

Teale, set to sign a new deal with the Saints this week, praised Celtic for forming a guard of honour for the cup-winning St Mirren team before kick-off.

He said: "I thought that was a touch of class. It couldn't have been easy as Celtic is a club that wants to win things.

"It says a lot about Neil Lennon as manager of Celtic that his team did that. I have total respect for him and the club."