Jack Ross is expecting a close fought encounter tomorrow afternoon when his St Mirren side welcome Ayr United to the Paisley 2021 Stadium for the third time this season.
But the manager wants his team to keep up the momentum and feed into supporters optimism following the two league wins over Queen of the South and Raith Rovers last week.
The Buddies are looking to make it three league wins in a row for the first time since 2008 when the Honest Men travel to Paisley and Jack believes that the three matches between the two sides already this season show how little there has been between the two on the park.
All the games this season have been tight between the teams," he said. "Obviously there were two games in league and cup prior to me taking the job and then the recent IRN-BRU Cup tie as well. We know there's been little in the matches so I expect that again tomorrow. But we probably go into it with the players in as good a frame of mind as they have been all season."
While acknowledging that win over Ayr in the IRN-BRU Cup last month, Jack feels that the players confidence ahead of tomorrow's match is likely to come from the two recent league wins.
I'm always one who never reads too much into previous results," Jack explained. "I always prepare the same way for a game. Our analysis side differs slightly because we've played them recently and we can so them some stuff from that recent match. I expect a similarly difficult game tomorrow and I don't think the previous game has much bearing on it."
With Saints looking to win three league games in a row for the first time since a four game winning run in December 2008, Jack admits that the both he and the players understand what it would mean to add to recent victories.
I understand the importance of us putting points on the board, that's something that you can't ignore. It's put us in a better position, one that is still by no means acceptable for us as a club or a team, but we're getting there and we're taking forward steps.
"The players are getting their rewards for it in recent weeks and that is important. It's okay me telling them to believe in themselves, they need to feel that themselves and I think they are getting there with it.
"I'm really pleased for them that they are getting the rewards from it and the supporters as they've been terrific for us recently as well. You could sense that renewed optimism and we need to keep feeding into that.
"It's clichéd but we got the monkey off our back in terms of our first league win and then first league win at home and first clean sheet in the league. We should have done them a long time ago and now we want to go on a run of games so we can go 'what's our unbeaten run?' and 'how many games have we won?'
"You have to have small targets throughout your season and that's what we want to do. There's always got to be goals set, there's always ambitions for that group to try and reach and that's what we're striving to get into that group, that mentality.
"I always have that optimism and belief when we go into games and that's not going to change. The players understand the significance of it and they're in a much better place. If we can keep that togetherness that the club has shown as a whole in recent times then we'll keep progressing."
St Mirren were dealt a blow in the match with Raith Rovers when defender Ben Gordon limped out with an injury early in the first half and Jack says the player is facing a length lay-off.
He's got a fairly serious injury," he said. "He done some damage to his knee so we got him scanned a couple of nights ago and he's waiting to see a specialist.
"He'll probably be out for two or three months which is a blow for him, first of all. Being injured is not easy and he had worked hard to get himself involved with us at this level, and it's a blow for me in terms of my squad, but first of all for him. But he'll get looked after properly.
"It's about him try to stay upbeat and it's mine and James' [Fowler] job to make sure he remains that way and feels a part of it."
