Marcus Fraser wants his Buddies to ramp up the pressure on a potentially jaded Hearts when they face off in Edinburgh.
While the Jambos will be going into Sunday’s clash having taken on Istanbul Basaksehir in their opening Europa Conference League fixture tomorrow night, St Mirren will be raring to go after a full week of training and preparation.
As the Saints look to bounce back to winning ways after suffering a disappointing defeat at the hands of St Johnstone in Perth, Fraser is hoping his side can blow away the capital club as Robbie Neilson’s men continue to try and get to grips with battling on two fronts this season.
Speaking exclusively to Renfrewshire Live Sport, Fraser said: “If there’s even just a slight advantage to take from them being in Europe and playing twice a week, then we need to take it.
“We need to try and start fast and take the game to them quickly. The manager has stressed that to us already. It’s a tight pitch at Tynecastle and if we can get an early goal we know we can put them under real pressure.
“Hopefully their players will feel that and their fans could turn on them as well.
“We’ve looked back on the St Johnstone game with the manager and we know what we need to do better. We had a really good tempo training session yesterday and everything for us is already gearing up for the Hearts game.
“We’d been on a very good run which is why we were so disappointed with the performance up in Perth. Hopefully we can put that right at the weekend, get a positive result and try and get straight back to winning ways.”
After missing the first two games of the season, defeats at the hands of Motherwell and Aberdeen, Fraser has found himself back in the team as part of Stephen Robinson’s preferred back three.
The 28-year-old insists St Mirren’s new recruits have forced every player at the club to raise their game, with even skipper Joe Shaughnessy finding himself out of the starting XI in recent weeks as competition for places remains fierce.
Fraser said: “We’ve had a decent start to the season but I know as a group of players we can do even better.
“All the new boys who have come in have impressed. They’re all good lads, but the most important thing is they’ve brought strong competition to every position.
“The new lads have boosted everyone and every player is now trying to work hard to get that extra few per cent to get themselves in the team. We’ve got a lot of strength in depth and you know you need to be on it in every single session.
“I’m buzzing to be back in the team and hopefully I can kick on now and keep my place nailed down. I’ve been here with Joe for a few years now and he’s just got his head down and is working as hard as he can.
“I’m sure when his opportunity comes to get back in the team he’ll take it because he’s that professional.”
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