Jamie Langfield believes St Mirren’s clash with Livingston today is “crucial” - despite Jim Goodwin’s switch to Aberdeen stealing the headlines in the build-up.
The Buddies go into this afternoon’s trip to West Lothian knowing a win could propel them as high as fourth in the Premiership table.
A loss meanwhile could see them slip down to ninth spot, with Langfield determined to keep the Saints on track for the top six in Goodwin’s absence after he accepted the Dons offer to replace Stephen Glass at Pittodrie.
Langfield, who finds himself in charge this afternoon as interim boss alongside Allan McManus, Andy Webster and Michael McArdle, told Renfrewshire Live Sport: “It is a disruption, no-one can get away from that.
“But we’ve got a great squad of players and a great back room staff that we’ll be able to deal with it.
“We’ll go to Livingston and get on with it. All the preparation for the game was done in the early part of the week, so all I said to the players in training was that we need to accept what’s going on.
"We can’t change it, we just need to prepare as well as possible for the Livingston game.
“We go there in good spirits. Any team we put on the pitch will give a good account of themselves and the club.
“It’s a crucial game. Going back to last year, we were talking about the top six for a long time and missed that.
“We changed our mindset after that and decided to go game by game and see where that takes us.
“Thankfully it’s working for us well at the moment. They are around about us in the table as well, so it would help to get a result over them - especially with Wednesday’s game (against Dundee) coming up as well.
“The vein of form we’re in at the moment, we’re in a good place to go there and put on a show for ourselves.”
Langfield insists Goodwin has all the tools required to be successful at Pittodrie, despite Stephen Glass struggling to make a positive impact at the club.
He feels the 40-year-old will continue to improve despite the added pressure that’s likely to pile onto him after making the switch to the Dons.
Langfield said: “Going by what I’ve done with him in the last two years, every year the manager has got better and better.
“I think with the budget restraints we have and his transfer dealings, everyone can see the club is in a stronger and better position now than it was.
“His man-management style with the players is also excellent. We’ve got 22 players in the squad and I can’t really say any of them are unhappy.
“Sometimes players want out the door because they’re not playing. I think that’s testament to him keeping us all together as a close-knit group.
“Tactically he’s very good as well and he can change things when they’re not going well.
When asked about the potential for him to join Goodwin at his former club, Langfield added: “I’m fully focused and part of St Mirren’s staff.
“I’m extremely happy here, my family are down here and I love coming into work every day.”
