Declan Gallagher revealed St Mirren were determined to beat the Dons for their devastated Buddie Alex Greive.
The New Zealand international missed the Saints’ Christmas Eve clash with Aberdeen after he returned home following the tragic passing of his father.
Gallagher and his teammates were even more motivated to beat old boss Jim Goodwin’s side, with the fired up Paisley players running out 3-1 winners.
And the St Mirren defender dedicated the three points to Greive, who despite his grief still wished the team good luck ahead of kick-off.
Gallagher explained to Renfrewshire Live Sport: “Alex wasn’t involved in the Aberdeen game because he had to go back to New Zealand after his father passed away.
“That result was for him and all the boys wanted to let him know that. We wanted that one for him and it definitely gave us added motivation.
“One thing the gaffer said to us before we went out there was to hold your loved ones close. There’s a boy who would love to be playing football, and who had a chance to start the game because he was flying, but because of those circumstances it’s not happened.
“He said to make sure we did it for Alex and that was important because we’re a close group. It’s good we could do it for him.
“It’s very hard given how far away he is from his family. He’s maybe not seen his dad in a long time.
“At the end of the day he’s half the world away and won’t see his dad again. The boys are gutted for him.
“He wished us all the best before the Aberdeen game in our WhatsApp group which was amazing to see, he was still thinking of us.
“It’s obviously upsetting for him and we’re thinking of him.”
This evening the Buddies head to West Lothian to take on Livingston, a club Gallagher knows very well after a five-year stint with the Lions.
The Scotland international experienced European football under current boss Stephen Robinson at Motherwell.
And he’s refusing to rule out the same happening in Paisley next season, as long as the Buddies can start to pick up more points on the road.
Gallagher said: “Anything is possible at the end of the day. Obviously the finances at the club make things tougher. Getting into the top six this season would be an amazing achievement on its own.
“Anything past that would be absolutely incredible. We won’t get too carried away with ourselves just now.
“The gaffer has a big thing about the group having no egos. We have a strong squad as a whole. Against Aberdeen we had Gogic, Brophy and Kiltie coming on and that shows how good a squad we’ve got. Plus Joe Shaughnessy on the bench, the club captain who is such a big man around the changing room. The squad is amazing.
“It’s good that we’ve got a strong home record at the end of the day, but we do need to improve our away record to push on.
“I don’t know what it is. It seems to be a wee mental block because the way we set out to play, giving teams the ball and then hitting on the break, should work better away from home.
“For some reason we’ve turned the SMiSA into a fortress, which we’re very happy about, but now it’s about picking up more points away from home.”
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