It would have been a useful ally ahead of a William Hill Scottish Cup quarter-final with Celtic, a side who will look to use the tie to treat the self-inflicted wounds of an uncomfortable midweek defeat by Motherwell.
That pallid performance provoked the ire of manager Neil Lennon and caused him to question the commitment of many of his players afterwards, the inference being that they will be expected to give their answer in Paisley today. "It's probably the worst result we could have hoped for them to have prior to the game with us," said Gary Teale, the St Mirren winger.
That feeling will not have sat comfortably with the winger this week, instead fidgeting in his mind as the winger rested ahead of today's tie. Supporters have been queuing for days outside the Paisley ground to get their tickets but the 34-year-old might well have preferred that they were made to wait a little longer since he has been left to nurse an adductor injury.
It is a problem which has kept him out since a draw with Aberdeen on February 9 – Teale performed media duties during Wednesday's victory over Hearts – and he will be assessed this morning to determine if he is up to the challenge of facing Celtic. St Mirren are already without captain Jim Goodwin due to a calf strain, although Graham Carey is expected to recover from a knock he suffered in midweek.
Teale has only been able to train intermittently – "Side-foot passing on it is fine. It's only when you go to put a bit of power through the ball when it pulls again" – but he is not ill-prepared. He is quite aware of what it will take to spill this Celtic side out of the cup since he has already managed it this season; Teale having enjoyed a productive role in knocking the Parkhead side out of a Scottish Communities League Cup semi-final in January.
Any parallels that can be drawn with this cup tie will be encouraged by the Paisley side even if they are likely to be scored out when the teams take to the pitch. Still, that win in the League Cup brought stern remarks from Neil Lennon and Teale hopes that his side's performance will hold a similar resonance in Paisley. "Everybody knows that they are better than us and that we had a good day [in the semi-final] but hopefully we can take that into this game," he said.
"The only thing we can take from the last game is confidence. They are better than us over the course of a season but in a one-off game if you are up and at it then there's a chance you can beat them. Who's to say we can't go and do it? It would be a monumental achievement but we certainly believe we can."
Neil Lennon had expressed a desire to be paired with St Mirren in the draw and so will not be short of incentive. Yet neither will Danny Lennon, the Paisley side's manager, and he spoke with typical relish ahead of today's game. "I could understand Neil wanting to get us in the draw as there's no doubting he will be hurting from that semi-final defeat. I hurt after our eight league defeats to them before them," he said. "I'm ambitious and want to play the best. It would be great if we could beat Celtic in both major cupcompetitions."
