ST MIRREN sank to the foot of the Premiership table several weeks ago.
But it is only now relegation looks inevitable that John McGinn concedes that his promising career has finally hit rock bottom.
The midfielder is a product of the Paisley club's youth academy having first broken into the first team back in 2012, six years into their current spell in the Scottish top flight. Over the next three years McGinn propelled himself into a first pick for St Mirren at the heart of their midfield and even achieved the incredible feat of lifting a trophy at the age of 18 in the form of the 2013 League Cup.
That momentous day at Hampden may only be little over two years ago, but it already seems like a lifetime away for the talented Scot who has been one of the few to have come out with some credit over a miserable campaign.
Monday night's 3-0 defeat was the latest hammer blow to strike a fragile Paisley side that are long beyond breaking point. And reflecting on the impending relegation that is about to engulf St Mirren, McGinn realises the new depths he has plummeted to.
"I have experienced the highs and how good football can be," said the Scotland under-21 internationalist. "I won the cup at such an early age but this is definitely the lowest point of my career. It's been a real struggle this season. My performances haven't been up to standard that I got to last campaign.
"I would not say I have been playing overly poorly but I have been disappointed with the way I have played, a lot of boys feel the same. I need to pick that up for the last five games and see how it goes."
McGinn's modesty is a mark of a mature player aware of the current malaise and indeed anger which is currently being felt by those supporters closest to the club.
However, he is far from the only - or indeed worst - offender in a campaign which has lurched from one disappointment to the next. The struggle under Tommy Craig in the early part of the season was just the first of many travails for St Mirren, along with their attempt to deal without the influential presence of captain and top goalscorer from last season Steven Thompson for large chunks.
Indeed, their biggest struggle has undeniably been in front of goal. While those around them seem to be finding the net with ease - nearest rivals Motherwell and Ross County have put eight past St Mirren between them in the Paisley club's last two games - Saints' strike rate is the worst in the UK at just 22 goals.
"It's not that we are not trying, that's definitely not the case," added McGinn, whose team's top goalscorers sit on a grand tally of two each. "I know sometimes it looks like that when you go into the season and people keep making mistakes after mistakes. But look at the better teams, it only happens in one game, then they eradicate it.
"But if players keep doing that for a number of games and are out of their depth they get found out. We deserve to go down for performances like that."
Currently behind Motherwell by 10 points, some saw the slip up by Ian Baraclough's men at the weekend away to Partick Thistle as an opportunity to close the gap on the Lanarkshire side by beating Ross County on Monday.
It was an outcome that never looked likely, and the pursuit of Motherwell was a fanciful idea McGinn was not keen to entertain.
He said: "It's a big task. Even if we won against Ross County then it was a case of delaying the inevitable and playing for ourselves and showing the supporters the lads deserve to be here next year.
"There's players playing for contracts or trying to impress other clubs but if anyone was looking at that then they'll not go anywhere."
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