St Mirren manager Jack Ross will not be shielding his players from the importance of their next two league fixtures if they are to have any hope of surviving in the Championship.

The Saints travel to Dumbarton on Saturday before taking on Ayr United either side of Scottish Cup and Irn-Bru Cup fixtures.

It is the forthcoming league outings that take priority for the Buddies, and Ross has left his men in no doubt how vital winning them is for the club, and challenged them to thrive off of the pressure.

“They’re huge and we’ve said that to the players,” Ross said. “If any of them can’t handle the importance of them then come and tell me.

“There is no shying away from it, I’m not going to take the pressure off them because they should feel it and want to thrive on it, take it on their shoulders and say: ‘I’m strong enough to deal with it’.

“It’s huge for the club, not just for the players, for people that come here week-in, week-out, for the staff that work here - but for everybody and they need to take that upon their shoulders and be brave enough to try and deal with it.

“Even if you’re brave enough to deal with it you don’t always get your rewards from it but they have to take that responsibility to be good enough.”

Meanwhile, St Mirren chairman Gordon Scott has revealed that the club were prepared to let midfielder Stevie Mallan move on in the transfer window, despite the bid they received being below their valuation of the player.

In an update on the club website, Scott also said he is confident the players they have recruited in January can help them to safety.

“Stevie has been a great servant of this club and if we want to encourage young kids to sign up to our academy part of that commitment has to be for the club to consider the player’s future as well as the clubs,” Scott said.

“Reluctantly we eventually accepted an offer and gave the club permission to speak to Stevie. The deal however did not materialise for whatever reason and we heard nothing more from the other club.

“Whilst this was a blow to the player, I feel that if Stevie continues his development and plays the part he is capable of in our survival I am sure he will have even more clubs chasing his signature in the summer.

“We hope that Stephen, along with the ten new players that arrived at the club in January, can really kick on and help us towards the ultimate short term aim of staying in the Championship.”