By Taylor Murray
Copyright dailyrecord
Alex Gogic highlighted the importance of hard-fought wins after St Mirren’s narrow Euro miss last season. The Cypriot stalwart — who was the stand-in skipper on Saturday as the Buddies beat Dundee 1-0 after Mark O’Hara and Marcus Fraser missed out through injury — says gaining the three points against a side like the Dark Blues means a lot more to the team than victory against a title-chasing side. Killian Phillips’ first-half goal was enough to seal the win, maintain the unbeaten run this season at the SMiSA Stadium and send Saints up to third in the Premiership. And Gogic feels that, come the end of the season, a triumph like this could be the difference between heading off on another Euro adventure or not. “I think it’s important to win these kind of games against teams similar to us,” he said. “I think last year, maybe we didn’t pick up as many points as we should have. “I think it was a good, mature win. “It’s always nice to just keep on going and keeping the momentum. For any team, it is a nice feeling. “Even last season, and since he [manager Stephen Robinson] has been here, he’s kept telling us that these are the games that matter. “It’s easy to go against Celtic and Rangers and put on a performance — but these are the games that matter. “We are maybe more on the ball and the games might be tighter so, to get three points, it helps more. I think seeing how close we missed Europe last year, these kind of games maybe would have put us in that momentum to get Europe.” Life is looking good for the black-and-white army who have now seen their team lose only once in 12 competitive games this term. Kilmarnock are next up this Saturday before the international break as Saints return to Rugby Park for the first time since their Premier Sports Cup quarter-final epic penalty shoot-out victory. Gogic, 31, could retain the armband for the trip with O’Hara and Fraser both crocked and he admitted it is a special honour leading his Buddies out. “It means a lot,” he said. “For an individual to be a skipper for the team, it’s great obviously. The main skipper and second skipper were injured, so for me to step up is a nice achievement. But the three points are the most important for the whole team.” And on playing alongside Richard King and Miguel Freckleton in central defence this season, Gogic added: “They’ve settled down amazing. I think Miguel last year didn’t even play that many games and he’s cruising. He’s enjoying it. And we’re all just learning how all of us play and Kingy as well; he’s doing exceptionally well.” Don’t miss the latest Renfrewshire headlines – you can sign up to our free daily newsletter here
