St Mirren boss Jack Ross is confident that his players can handle the magnitude of the occasion tomorrow as they face up to relegation rivals Raith Rovers in Paisley.

With just two matches remaining, the Buddies have clawed their way back from the brink to the play-off position, currently sitting one point behind tomorrow’s opponents, who are in eighth.

With a visit to take on division champions Hibs at Easter Road still to come, the Saints won’t secure safety with a win over John Hughes’s side, but three points would go a long way to maintaining their Championship status.

But even though excitement is building among supporters that their team may be about to pull off the great escape, Ross thinks his players will keep a cool head in order to deal with the task at hand.

“This is a massive game for us, we’re under no illusions about that and we are embracing that,” Ross said.

“I hope that in years to come we can have even bigger games at the right end of the table, but this is probably the biggest game in our recent past because maintaining our place in the Championship is so important.

“The players all understand the significance of Saturday’s game and I think there’s a real excitement among them for the match as well as among the fans.

“But they are used to dealing with these types of games. They’ve had to deal with massive games for quite a while now and they are used to coping with that pressure, and they have done it really well.

“I expect them to handle these next two games in the same way too.”

Ross admits that the effervescence around training in the latter part of the week wasn’t quite so evident when his players trudged in on Monday after the pain of their last-gasp defeat at Tannadice on Saturday.

The Buddies boss says though that their deflation over what happened is a sign of the progress they have made as a team, and that his players shouldn’t lose sight of what they have achieved so far.

“Losing a game in the last minute is always sore no matter where you are in the league, and even more so when you’ve played well and feel that you deserve something,” he said.

“The players were disappointed, but when we came back in it was a case of emphasising how good they have been and crediting them for the massive turnaround that we’ve had.

“They’ve responded really well and they have been really bright since.”

Raith losing their game in hand to Hibs in similarly heartbreaking circumstances to St Mirren’s defeat to United has certainly helped to lift the mood in Ross’s camp.

But he saw plenty on the night to suggest that the task facing his men tomorrow will not be a straight-forward one.

“I was through at the game and from a professional perspective, it allowed me to see the two teams we will be playing in our next two fixtures,” he said.

“The result was obviously welcome. Some of the players were at the game and they all would have been tuned into the result.

“Raith were very unfortunate not to take anything though. They played well and put an awful lot into it, but it shows you the fine margins.

“We were on the wrong end of conceding a very late goal at the weekend and it was their turn on Wednesday.

“The players now recognise the significance of this game on Saturday, and there is a huge incentive there for them.”