Gus: Fire back at the snipers

May 8 2009 by Paul Behan, Paisley Daily Express

DEFIANT Buddies boss Gus MacPherson last night ordered his players to shoot down the snipers who have targeted them following last weekend’s disappointing defeat against Inverness Caley Thistle.

Saints stars have come in for plenty of flak this week as a result of that 2-1 loss at the hands of the Highlanders, which saw them drop down to 11th place in the SPL and perilously close to relegation rivals Falkirk.

MacPherson admits the Buddies have been stung by the criticism that has come their way.

But he has identified tomorrow’s crucial SPL clash against Motherwell as the perfect opportunity for his players to fire back at those who believe they are headed for the dreaded drop.

Now he wants his side to redeem themselves in front of their home fans by doing their talking on the pitch.

MacPherson said: “We want to improve from last Saturday because we were extremely disappointed with our performance and the players understand that as well.

“We’ve had a chat with them and we reminded them about what they are good at and what it is that they have.

“We’ve played pretty well over the course of the season and the players have taken the plaudits when they came along but last week was a poor performance and they came in for criticism after that game.

“Now it’s time to put that disappointment behind them and the best way to do that is by doing their talking on the pitch.”

MacPherson revealed his players were hurting after losing to Inverness last weekend and insists there is a strong determination to put things right tomorrow against Mark McGhee’s team.

He said: “Since our term of management began, there has always been a reaction from the players to a disappointing performance.

“That’s down to the players being good professionals. They were hurting, just like anybody else, after last week and they want to go out and make improvements.

“Hopefully, they can do that against Motherwell.”

MacPherson is confident his side can recapture the standards they set earlier in the season, when they proved to be a tough outfit to beat.

He added: “Since we’ve been in the SPL, if we’ve allowed our standards to fall, invariably we’ve been punished and that’s what happened last week.

“We need to maintain consistently high performances and, the more we do that, the better chance we have of winning matches at this level.”