St Mirren boss Danny Lennon bans relegation talk and challenges his team to finish seventh
4 May 2013 10:59

Scott McDermott

THE Buddies boss says his team must forget about grabbing one point to survive and instead push on to finish high up in the SPL.

DANNY LENNON has banned relegation talk from the St Mirren dressing room and has challenged his players to secure a seventh-place finish in the SPL.

The Buddies have been dragged back into a relegation battle by bottom dogs Dundee who are eight points adrift of Saints with three games left.

A solitary point against Hearts today will keep Lennon’s men up and he’s revealed the “R” word hasn’t even been mentioned at the Paisley club this week.

Lennon said: “We’ve never discussed relegation. We’ve come off the back of winning the League Cup and only had one defeat since then.

“It’s about banishing any negativity. That’s why we haven’t spoken about relegation at all this week.

“I’m very confident about this group of players. We’re in a strong position.

“I understand people going on about it because, mathematically, Dundee can still catch us and that would be a story.

“But it’s also mathematically possible for us to finish seventh.

“The last two performances have disappointed us but we have addressed that now.

“I believe it’s now behind us and we’re looking forward to the last three games of the season.

“We’re not looking for one point from those games – we’re looking for nine.”

Dundee manager John Brown has been on a mission to pile the pressure on Lennon’s troops in recent weeks.

He suggested St Mirren had “put the tools away” after their League Cup triumph against Hearts in March.

Lennon, however, refused to get drawn into mind games with Bomber.

He added: “John has come in and he’s just won the Manager of the Month award which is fantastic. It’s a great achievement and he’s had a phenomenal record so all credit to him for that.

“I’m led to believe he’s also had a few comments in the papers this week but he’s only doing what he feels will help his team.

“I can’t control what John Brown does. I’ve spoken enough about him – I’m not interested in Dundee. I’m here to talk about us playing Hearts and what we’ve got to do.

“We’ve won a major trophy this season and that will always be remembered but we can’t live off that. It brings a lot of hype but the next step is to produce consistently good results.”

Lennon revealed he’s put contract talks with his players on hold until the Saints confirm their SPL status for next term.

Craig Samson has already rejected an offer to stay in Paisley but Lennon hasn’t yet given up hope of keeping his No.1.

He said: “We don’t want to get distracted or lose focus. I haven’t spoken about contracts to any players – we can do that in the next two or three weeks.

“Samson has declined our offer and I have to respect that. We’ll look at the club’s situation in the next few weeks then make decisions.

“In football, nothing is ever dead, things can change just as quickly as they went the other way.

“Every player wants to play at the highest level and that’s where our club is right now. We look forward to staying there.”

Hearts will be out for revenge this afternoon after that League Cup Final defeat but Lennon added: “When we combine our effort with our ability we’re a match for anyone.

“Our last two wins were against Hearts in the Cup and the league. Hopefully that is a good omen.”

Taken from the Daily Record