Pause for thought: Craig's reign has proved pointless

More damning, perhaps, is the fortunes of others in that same period. Hamilton Academical and Dundee, the two teams promoted from last season's Championship, have 13 and 10 points on the board respectively. Partick Thistle, who came up the summer before, have seven to their name, and could stretch their advantage to double figures with a home win over St Mirren tomorrow night.

It all adds up to something of a sticky situation for Craig in the infancy of his first managerial role in British football and only his second overall.

St Mirren cannot let that gap grow any wider if they are to harbour realistic aspirations of staving off relegation for a ninth successive season. Already Hamilton, most people's pre-season favourites to be automatically relegated, look safe, with Ross County also stuck on zero points. Dundee and Thistle, should they win tomorrow night, may also find themselves breathing a bit easier. As early as five games into the season and St Mirren and Craig are really up against it.

"There are some good stories there - Hamilton's a great story this early," he said. "Dundee and Partick as well. Three teams who had question marks against them staying up and at the moment they're performing better than 'can they stay up?' Who knows what will happen down the line, but there's a gap there and it's one we're not happy about. We need to try and reduce it as soon as possible."

Craig finds himself in the role of counsellor as much as coach. Poor results tend to lead to a drop in morale in the dressing room and there is a sense of anxiety among many of the St Mirren players as they wonder just what they have to do to stop the rot. "There is an edge about the players," the manager admitted. "They feel that if they can just get a win then it will kick-start them. But the longer it goes on, the more concerned they get. It shows in the performance. It didn't look as though we were going to concede goals in games at one stage but that is five [defeats in a row] now.

"After the first game, you think [a positive result] will come the next time around because we had played very well. But it doesn't come and then you see that edge. There's that little bit of concern and anxiety when the ball comes across the box. They are not as assured because they so dearly want the ball to go in."

To make matters worse for St Mirren, they will be without Steven Thompson, the club's leading scorer over the past three seasons, for up to three months after he undergoes groin surgery on Saturday. "I try not to go on about Thommo because it sounds like excuses, but the heroics he's performed over the three years he's been here has been fantastic. And just when we really need him, he's injured and out for quite some time."

Now St Mirren head to Firhill, where manager Alan Archibald is determined to build some momentum on the back of their weekend victory over Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

After starting the campaign in stunning fashion with a 4-0 win over Ross County, Thistle took just one point from their matches against Dundee, Hamilton Academical and Aberdeen, before Saturday's triumph.

"It's been a positive week," said Archibald. "There's nothing better than coming in on a Monday on the back of a good result and a good performance.

"The boys have been in good form all week and hopefully we can build on this. That's the challenge for us now - to try and get two or three wins on the bounce.

"We spoke to the lads after the Inverness game and I mentioned to them that we can't go from winning comfortably there and follow that with a disappointing result - we've got to achieve a level of consistency.

"The game on Friday gives us the chance to do that, and not because it's St Mirren, but because we're at home. Last season, the home form let us down; you can't get consistency if you're not winning your home games. But the only way to climb the league is to start winning matches back-to-back."