MacPherson award for historic run

Gus MacPherson steered Saints to four consecutive league victories

St Mirren manager Gus MacPherson has been named top manager in the Scottish Premier League for December after a historic month for the Paisley club.

MacPherson's Clydesdale Bank manager of the month award comes after St Mirren won four SPL matches in a row for the first time.

The Buddies defeated Falkirk, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Kilmarnock and Hamilton Academical during December.

Those wins lifted St Mirren seven points clear of the relegation spot.

It is MacPherson's second Clydesdale Bank award this season, having been top boss during October.

The award comes days before St Mirren play their final game, with Motherwell the visitors, at their Love Street home before moving to a new stadium in nearby Greenhill Road.

MacPherson said: "I've been delighted with the current form.

"A lot was made of the poorer results we had in November, but we were happy with the performances.

"We felt we were playing pretty well, but we weren't getting the breaks at the right times.

I've been delighted with the current form St Mirren manager Gus MacPherson

"We were creating chances, but we couldn't put the ball in the back of the net.

"We have been able to do that in December and win games.

"We said, if we continued to play the way we were and show some consistency, we would win games and that has proven to be the case."

According to MacPherson, the reason for the change in form is simple.

"It's down to good players playing with confidence and having belief that what we were saying was correct," he said.

"They are an honest group and I always feel with players that you can't kid them on.

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"We try to be as honest as we can with them and our assessment of their performances was good.

"They just had to try to add the finishing to their game and take the chances when they came along. They needed a bit of ruthlessness.

"I felt we had proven goalscorers within the squad and that has happened.

"There are a lot of players playing well at the moment and playing with confidence."