Main praised for helping see St Mirren to victory

St Mirren assistant manager Diarmuid O’Carroll was full of praise for Curtis Main’s part in the 1–0 win over Ross County but admits they are keeping their fingers crossed over the fitness of match winner Declan Gallagher.

Main had been a serious doubt to feature against County with a hamstring issue, but was passed fit late on and played an important role in the victory.

However, a seemingly similar injury forced Gallagher, whose eighth-minute header was the difference between the sides, off the pitch in stoppage time, with the extent of the damage still to be confirmed.

“Credit to Curtis, he had a little knock and it was a quick turnaround from Wednesday night,” O’Carroll said.

“We ask a lot of him – he takes a lot of bashing, a lot of contact and he leads the line for us fantastically.

“We were very doubtful until late on, so the fact that he could dig in and perform to that standard for 90 minutes is a credit to him.

“Declan was brilliant in the game but unfortunately pulled up. I joked with him that his game is not based on pace, so he shouldn’t have a hamstring injury.

“Once it has settled down, we’ll see what happens. Hopefully it’s on the minor side, but it’s pot luck.”

Staggies manager Malky Mackay was left bemoaning a slow start that cost his side dearly.

The Dingwall outfit remained in the bottom two as a result of the defeat, after being unable to find a response to Gallagher’s early strike.

“We talked about it and we knew how potent St Mirren are at home, and you’ve got to stand up to that,” Mackay added.

“We did a lot of work on it, and we faced a very similar type of team in Dingwall two weeks ago in Kilmarnock, but for the first 20 minutes we didn’t affect them in the way that we should. You can’t give teams half an hour of a start.

“At half time I felt we had to tweak things to go a bit more front foot, and I thought we then came into the game and started having balls in and around St Mirren’s box like they had with us but by that point they’ve scored their goal and they’ve got something to hold on to.”