Craig McLeish believes there are plenty of positives to take from St Mirren’s semi-final defeat against Celtic, admitting he is “more critical” of himself following the 6-2 loss at Hampden. 

A second-half Mikael Mandron double pushed the tie into extra time, but the Buddies would eventually run out of steam, surrendering four goals in six minutes. Whilst they were unable to repeat their League Cup Final heroics, McLeish exuberated pride after the full-time whistle.

“I’m so proud of the group and how they performed. To come back from the setbacks that we had early on in the game like losing a goalkeeper early on, losing the goal in the manner in which we did early on, to fight back from that and the fans pulled us through.

“Second-half performance was up there with the best since I’ve been in charge of the group. We thought we were in a really good place going into extra time. We made some changes that probably helped us get back into the game. We end up with a lot of attacking players on the pitch.

“We change our shape as well so taking those risks helps us get to extra time and then they maybe expose us a little bit there, the quality that Celtic bring on the pitch then takes its toll and they hurt us.

“It’s maybe a wee bit of naivety on my part with the way we finished the 90 minutes and the message was to keep going. We were trying not to be reckless with it but we thought we were in a good place. There’s maybe bits that I need to look back on.

“I’m not going to be critical of our group and our players at all. I’m probably first and foremost, I’m more critical of myself. The score line looks really sore. I don’t think we deserved that score line.

“We have to retain our status in the league. There has to be positives that we take. We can’t just ignore negatives. We’ve got a massive five games, we’re fighting for survival, we know that, the group knows that.”

McLeish acknowledged goalkeeper Ryan Mullen’s first-half injury. The 24-year-old’s error allowed Daizen Maeda to open the scoring in the first minute.

“Ryan’s a professional, he’ll deal with that well.”

“He kind of kicked the ground and then got robbed of the ball and he’s ended up kind of pulling his thigh muscle.”

Five games remain for St Mirren, as they aim to consolidate their Premiership status. Victories over Falkirk and Aberdeen, as well as spirited displays against Celtic, will offer encouragement for the League Cup Champions.

Sitting precariously above the relegation playoff spot, Saturday’s home encounter against Livingston could offer breathing space for the Paisley side, before crunch games against Dundee and Kilmarnock.