Saints boss Kearney not getting carried away by first league win over year

Posted Sunday, March 03, 2019 by PA

St Mirren manager Oran Kearney dismissed talk of a corner being turned, despite seeing his side clinch a dramatic first Ladbrokes Premiership win of the year at home to Livingston.

Ryan Flynn was the late hero for the Buddies as they backed up recent draws away to Aberdeen and Hearts to close the gap to second-bottom Dundee to just a single point.

Despite the last-gasp 1-0 success, Kearney remained grounded as he demanded the same levels from his side in the coming weeks.

“You never take anything for granted in football,” the Northern Irishman said.

“We’ve got three points today and we’ll get back to working hard next week. We don’t expect any decisions to go our way, we’ll just get right back to doing what we’ve done over the past three weeks.

“I always knew that we were going to have to pick up most of our points in this last half of the season. We were never going to pick up our points before Christmas. We had to get our house in order then have a strong finish.”

The game looked to be heading for stalemate on a wild Paisley day before Flynn pounced on Liam Kelly’s parry to bring a roar out of the Simple Digital Arena crowd that had scarcely been heard all season.

“It’s been a while since I’ve experienced a last minute goal and I suppose you forget the joy that it brings”, said the Buddies boss.

“The three points were massive for us today. As much as the performances have been really strong over the past few weeks we knew that the win would be the most important thing.”

Livingston boss Gary Holt cut a far less pleased figure as his side fell to a seventh loss in their last nine.

The Lions have only netted in three of those matches, but it was their gung-ho approach in the closing stages that frustrated their boss.

Holt said: “Game management is a massive thing in football and it’s something that, as a young side, they need to learn. When the conditions are rubbish and you’ve got a point then you have to take that and move on.

“We shot ourselves in the foot late on by giving the ball away and then not recovering the situation.

“Sometimes when guys are new to this level they still want to go and win games, but they’ve got to realise that when the game’s horrendous and conditions are horrendous then you take the point and move on.”