THE last 12 months have been nothing short of a rollercoaster for St Mirren striker Ross Caldwell.

On Tuesday night, with his side trailing 1-0 at the interval to Dunfermline, Caldwell came off the bench and his two strikes were not only the first goals of the season for the club, but also secured their first win and launched the Paisley side into the next round of the SPFL League Cup.

"Hopefully that can start us on a run," Caldwell said. "It didn't really matter who scored, whether it was me or any of the other boys. The gaffer [Tommy Craig] has assembled a team where everyone can chip in.

"Steven Thompson is a great player and a great asset to the team, but if everyone else chips in it should make the league campaign a bit more comfortable this season.

"We'd prefer to have more points on the board, we are creating chances. It would be a worse case if we weren't creating any chances."

After leaving Hibernian in the summer, post-relegation, Caldwell is simply happy to be in the top flight.

"Coming to St Mirren has been a great chance to me after leaving Hibs. Tommy offered to take me on trial, which I was happy enough to do, which gave me another chance to stay in the top tier of Scottish football. I have to show people that I'm good enough to be here and hopefully with performances and with goals like that they'll see that. If you don't have confidence in yourself you are never going to be able to go out and do your best.

"You need to be confident in your own ability. I have always learned off other striker's, especially when I was at Hibs, and Tommo is another."