Connor Ronan is hoping an enforced recharge over the winter break can help shock St Mirren back into life at Tannadice this evening.
The Buddies limped into the Premiership interval having suffered a severe coronavirus outbreak, with their last taste of victory coming at Dingwall against Ross County all the way back in mid-October.
Wolves loanee Ronan was one of several Saints players to pick up Covid-19 last month, which thankfully didn’t have a long-term impact on his or his teammates’ health as they returned to training last week.
Now the 23-year-old is determined to help the Paisley club give their league campaign a much-needed jolt, starting with tonight’s trip to face Dundee United.
Ronan told Express Sport: “I think I started off quite well and then dropped off a little bit since then.
“Attacking midfielders have to chip in with a certain amount of goals and assists. We’ve got to give the strikers something to get on the end of.
“We just need that bit of luck. Even a goal to go in off someone to just get that first win to get our confidence back.
“I need to pick up a goal or a few assists and get that confidence going again. I think we need that throughout the team.
“Just to get that first win on the board after a while without one would do us the world of good.
“The break came at a good time. We had the Covid outbreak just before Christmas which obviously didn’t help with the two hard games we had.
“Everybody has come back recharged, the training has been really good and we’re just looking forward to getting back playing.
“We haven’t played in nearly a month so you get that hunger back. We’ve all been missing it.
“We want to get that first win on the board this year. That will give us the confidence back that we had nearer the start of the season.
“We weren’t on the best run of form, performances have been inconsistent. We’ve definitely done enough in a lot of games to go on and win them.
“We just need to get a bit of a run going and hopefully that can start against Dundee United.”
Ronan has largely impressed so far during his time in Paisley, bagging two crucial goals in a 3-2 win against Aberdeen while also scoring a screamer against Rangers at the SMISA Stadium in October.
The Ireland prospect’s long-term ambition is to star for his country and his English Premier League parent club Wolves.
And he hopes turning on the style in Paisley can help both of those dreams become a reality in the next six months, having returned to train with the Birmingham club during the last international break.
Ronan said: “Wolves have been really good with me so far.
“There’s a full loans department and loans manager who are in contact very often and try to get to as many games as possible.
“They’re really helpful and going back to train there always gives you that incentive that you’re not going on loan and being forgotten about.
“They are keeping an eye on you and it is part of a long-term plan to break into the first team.”
