Charles Dunne insists he and his Buddies must embrace the pressure in the race for a top-six finish – then go for Europe. And he’s urging his teammates to relish the challenge having already pulled away from the relegation dogfight.
The powerful defender has played a key role this season, with St Mirren sitting comfortably in fifth spot ahead of today’s trip to St Johnstone. The Perthshire Saints are one of the few teams who can realistically overtake the Buddies in the top-six by the time the split comes into view in April.
But Dunne is confident the Paisley club can put some serious distance between the two sides as they continue to chase an historic Premiership finish.
He told Renfrewshire Live Sport: “This is another big game but every game is when you are coming towards the split. They are all massive games. We will try to treat it like any other game, but we know how tough it will be.
“If they win they could be three points behind us, but if we win then we move further ahead and that has to be the plan.
“It’s tight in the middle part of the table and it’s going to be interesting in the next few games as we get towards the split. But it is much better to be in this type of battle than being in the one at the bottom.
“There is pressure to try to get into the top-six. But you could be in a lot worse position than we are, so we have to embrace it. You would much rather have the pressure we have right now than the one at the bottom of the table, with teams fighting to stay up.
“Top-six is the target and if we do that then who knows what we could do afterwards.”
Should St Mirren finally achieve that elusive top-half finish, the next target would undoubtedly be sealing a European spot for next season. Dunne has already pulled off both of those achievements at Motherwell, along with Buddies boss Stephen Robinson and a number of his teammates.
And the 30-year-old feels that experience in the dressing room is vital heading into the business end of the current campaign. When asked if bringing European football to Paisley next season was possible, Dunne replied: “Of course it can be done and we have to believe we can do it.
“There’s no point in coming into this stage of the season and not believing you can do it. It is down to us as a collective to try to make sure that it happens.
“It would be great for the club to achieve it and it would be unreal to achieve it. We know the joy it would bring to everyone in the club, but also in Paisley if we can get into the top-six for the first time. After that, anything is possible.
“In the past we could have been looking down, but we are looking up now and that shows just how far we have come.”
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