St Mirren: Gary Teale needs home win, says Gus MacPherson
Last updated on .From the section Football
Securing an elusive home win is vital for Gary Teale if he wants the St Mirren job long term, according to ex-Buddies manager Gus MacPherson.
Saints have won three Premiership matches this season, but are yet to register three points at home.
"Gary will feel that will be key to him getting the job," said MacPherson.
"There's been a reaction with a win at Dens Park and they would have hoped to continue that. But the monkey that's on their back is their home form."
Teale took over as caretaker boss in December after and has been victorious in one of his five matches in charge.
The impressive but the Buddies failed to add a consecutive triumph when they in Paisley on Sunday.
January's home games are against Aberdeen, Dundee and Dundee United.
Queen's Park boss MacPherson, who managed St Mirren between 2003 and 2010, understands that delivering three points in front of the Buddies' faithful is easier said than done.
"I know how difficult that is," he told BBC Scotland. "Because we experienced it when we first went into the new stadium.
"It's a difficult place to play because of the expectations. St Mirren have the players to compete at this level of football but just want to get a couple of wins, especially at home, and then they can go from strength to strength."
MacPherson believes it is only natural that off-field uncertainty at the club, caused by recent talks of a takeover bid, will affect the players to some degree.
And he remains proud of his management team's record of keeping St Mirren in the top flight for four consecutive seasons before he parted company with the club at the end of the 2009-10 campaign.
"I think we were eighth or ninth in Championship, as it is now, when we got the job," said MacPherson.
"We got into the SPL and the greatest achievement was staying in it, because of the budgets of other clubs round about us.
"They changed because they wanted to try and go in a different direction.
"It's been a little bit frustrating for everybody connected with the club, I would imagine, because it's really been in that lower end of the bottom six and they wanted to get to the top six."
