St Mirren captain Stephen McGinn has told his team-mates they need to get tougher if they are to climb the Ladbrokes Premiership table.
The Buddies suffered a 2-0 home defeat to Motherwell, the team immediately above them in the league, on Wednesday.
The result leaves them in danger of being cast adrift from most of the division and their task does not get any easier on Saturday when they host Rangers.
McGinn said: “We’ve got to be better, we’ve got to be tougher to play against, we have got to get closer to people, and if we let Rangers play the way we let Motherwell play then we’ll lose.
“We’ve got to show a reaction from Wednesday night. Although we lost to Hibs and Kilmarnock, there were real positives to take from the games but Wednesday night there weren’t many positives.
“What we need in front of our own fans to get them behind us and really show a reaction.
“It probably felt like we we were moving the ball quite well and were in the game, but it’s a problem right now that when we lose the first goal, we don’t seem to be showing much urgency to get back into the game.
“At this level, it’s so easy to punish and that’s why we are losing games, because we are not being tough enough at the minute.”
The Paisley side have now suffered six consecutive defeats after claiming a point against Celtic in Oran Kearney’s first match in charge.
But McGinn will take encouragement from that goalless encounter.
“It will be a similar game,” he said. “When the Old Firm come to town it’s almost like a different game. The stadium will be packed, it is on the TV and it’s as close to a free hit as you can get. The pressure on us switches to pressure on them.
“But it’s a chance to get points like every game and we need to start getting them on board.”
