If there is anyone in the St Mirren dressing room capable of dishing out fighting talk, it is Jim Goodwin.

Affable and articulate off the park, the 33-year-old midfielder has been involved in more scraps on it than he would care to count.

But with the Paisley side now precariously slumped at the bottom of the table and four points shy of Motherwell, Goodwin believes it is necessary to channel the frustrations of this season into a more aggressive display on the park.

St Mirren host Celtic tomorrow night and the Irishman knows that rather than go toe-to-toe with Ronny Deila's side, the onus will lie with St Mirren to frustrate the Parkhead side for as long as possible.

Few would expect anything other than a comfortable evening for Celtic.

Goodwin, though, is determined to make life as uneasy as possible for the Parkhead men and has called on the Saints squad to roll up their sleeves and prepare to battle for every ball.

The truth of the matter is that what happens tomorrow night is unlikely to determine the fate of Gary Teale's side this season; subsequent games against Motherwell and Ross County will do that.

But finding positives from tomorrow night's game to take into those definitive clashes is what Goodwin is targeting.

"If I was an outsider I would like at this game and take Celtic every time," he said. "But football doesn't always work like that.

"We can't be going into games thinking that we are beaten before a ball has been kicked. We are gutted at the way this season has panned out but we can still do it. It is still in our hands and there is still time.

"But we need to get the sleeves rolled up and get stuck right in. We can't outplay Celtic but we can make life hard for them.

"We need to be hard and fair in the tackle, win our headers, get to that second ball first.

"Many of the Celtic players will be coming in off the back of international duty which could maybe help us out a little bit.

"We know that the games against Motherwell and Ross County are massive for us. We know that those are the games that could help us stay up - but we still want to show Celtic that they are in a game tomorrow night."

St Mirren have had a ragged look about them this season as they have struggled for any kind of consistency. The Paisley side have won just once on their own turf this term and there has been a palpable lack of belief about the team.

Goodwin, though, has insisted that there remains an optimism within the squad that they are good enough to stay up.

"We have spoken about it and we are determined that we are not going down," he said. "This is our livelihoods, we are proud of our club and of the team but I think people need to see that.

"We need to show just how committed we are. We have strong characters in the team, we are not afraid of the hard work and the pressure that the last few weeks of the season are going to bring.

"I also think that we have the best pitch in the whole country. I have no explanation as to why we seem to stutter more at home than we do on the road because I love playing here.

"The surface is second to none and with the pressure all on Celtic tomorrow night I'd like to think we can relax a wee bit and do our damndest to take something from the game."