Tommy Craig, the St Mirren manager, has taken little notice of the diminishing goal return of Billy McKay this season and has warned his side to keep an eye on the Inverness Caledonian Thistle striker this afternoon.

McKay will follow the road down to Paisley this afternoon keen to get back on track in front of goal having scored just once for the Highland side this season.

That goal came in the opening match of the campaign - McKay struck first in a 2-0 win over Hamilton Academical - but the Northern Irishman has been unable to add to that tally as Inverness rose to third place in the SPFL Premiership table. His paltry record is all the more startling since McKay scored almost 50 goals during his previous two campaigns.

Craig plans to remind his players of that statistic today as St Mirren attempt to pull away from the lower reaches of the table. "Billy is a natural goalscorer and he is a danger to us," said Craig, whose side are only three points off the bottom of the league table.

"He is suffering because teams are not daft. Over the last couple of years he has been outstanding and his haul of goals has been remarkable, but people have had to work out a way of curtailing that.

"He is now finding it harder to get those chances that he does so well with but make no mistake, he still has goals in him. I just hope he dries up for another few days."

League points are beginning slowly to dribble into St Mirren's account again following a poor start to the new season, with the Paisley side losing each of their first four league matches and failing to score a single goal. However, they are beginning to show signs of life - St Mirren have scored four times in their last two games, winning one and securing a draw in the other - to alleviate the pressure on Craig.

The experienced coach replaced Danny Lennon as manager during the close season and his appointment was met with little enthusiasm from supporters, although John Hughes is convinced that the 63-year-old will continue to come good. "I think that [an improvement in St Mirren's form] comes from the manager. The start they had brought a lot of criticism but, having known Tommy, I always felt he would keep that ship steady," said the Inverness manager, who sought advice from Craig while working to get his coaching badges.

"He's a first-class coach on the training pitch and would probably be the coolest, calmest guy in there at St Mirren. It was only a matter of time before that transmitted on to the pitch and he's done that. Unfortunately for us, it just so happens he has done it over the last few weeks and we're the next team going there to play them."

There was little concern shown by Ross Draper yesterday, though, with the strapping Inverness midfielder anxious instead about the treatment his side receives from match officials. He believes that his taller frame will often lead referees to brandish cards for fair tackles.

"I think it is down to the way people look at me because of my size and the way I go about my game. Sometimes tackles look a lot worse than they are," said Draper.