Half-term report card, St Mirren: Goodwin has done well from standing start

It has been a tough start to Jim Goodwin’s first season as St Mirren boss.

He wasn’t helped by being appointed late in the day, and inheriting a rather threadbare squad.

Oran Kearney kept Saints up last term, but relied a lot on loan players before departing the club at the start of July.

Scrambling to bring in players just before the season kicked off made a slow start almost inevitable.

Goodwin has made it clear he wants to revamp the club’s recruitment process, but that takes time and managers don’t get much of that.

The Buddies really toiled to get goals in the early stages of the campaign, and that was a major worry.

Fortunately for the Paisley fans, that has started to change in recent weeks.

Strikers Junior Morias and Jon Obika are finally up to full fitness, and seem to be developing a promising partnership.

Saints are seven points better off than at the same stage of the last campaign, and are increasingly looking like a more- durable outfit.

STAR MAN

The problem for clubs of St Mirren’s size is holding on to their best players.

Czech goalie Vaclav Hladky has shown remarkable consistency between the posts and that hasn’t gone unnoticed.

He rarely makes an error and that has been vital during a spell when his team was beset with injuries to defenders.

Having a keeper that exudes confidence is a great comfort to young players and midfielders being asked to perform as stand-in stoppers.

Keeping Hladky in Paisley won’t be easy, particularly because his contract only has another five months to run.

Saints rebuffed an offer from Azerbaijani side, Qarabag, last summer. But it seems inevitable that another club will come in with a bid for the 29-year-old.

PROSPECTS

You would have to hope that expectations have finally been tempered at St Mirren.

There’s nothing wrong with aiming high, but senior figures at the club talking about finishing in the top six isn’t helpful at this point in the club’s history.

That sort of talk resurfaced last summer when they really should have been concentrating on establishing St Mirren as a solid, top-flight outfit.

Jim Goodwin will need to get some more backing to wheel and deal in the transfer market during January.

He won’t be looking to make wholesale changes. But Saints are in need of some defensive reinforcements.

It’s an incredibly tight tussle at the bottom of the division, and St Mirren can’t afford to rest on their laurels.

They’re just one place above the relegation play-off spot, but only six points from fifth place.

An injection of quality could make a massive difference to the eventual outcome of their season.