MARK O'HARA is confident St Mirren can rise to their 'cup final' occasion and clinch a top six spot against Kilmarnock.
The Buddies came within touching distance of a point at Ibrox on Saturday as O'Hara netted twice to cancel out strikes from Todd Cantwell and Fashion Sakala.
But his efforts - which included a spectacular finish that he rifled beyond Allan McGregor - proved in vain as Alfredo Morelos hit a quickfire double and Scott Arfield rounded off the scoring.
The margin of defeat was harsh on Stephen Robinson's side but there was no real damage done to their bid to finish in the top half of the Premiership next term.
"When you score two goals at Ibrox you expect to come out with a little bit more than we did, but it wasn't to be today. We'll get together on Monday and go again." The manager gives his reaction following today's loss at Ibrox. #OurStMirren #COYS pic.twitter.com/XNaEAjo8mF
— St Mirren FC (@saintmirrenfc) April 15, 2023
Hibernian and Livingston are also in the hunt heading into Matchday 33 but a draw at home to relegation strugglers Kilmarnock will be enough to secure an impressive finish for the Saints.
O'Hara said: “It’s disappointing after we got ourselves to 2-2 with 15 minutes as we felt we were going to get something out of the game.
"Rangers freshen things up and bring on quality and that makes it hard. I think the heads went down after the third one went in and it wasn’t the justice we deserved for our efforts up until then.
“Football’s never plain sailing is it? We knew we needed one point regardless before coming into the weekend and that’s still the same.
"We’ve been good at home this season and are going to now build into a big important week. The stadium’s going to be full and hopefully we can get over the line.
“Yeah that (Kilmarnock's away record) is irrelevant as they’re fighting for their lives just now. And we’re fighting to get into the top six. It’s going to be a battle, almost like a cup final next week.
"To get top six would mean everything. On the evidence of this season we feel that it’s what we deserve. We’ll be doing everything we can to achieve that.
“We’ll be well prepped all well like we usually are. It will be like a cup final build-up and I’m looking forward to it.”
