Yesterday afternoon on-loan midfielder Graham Carey was presented with the Clydesdale Bank Premier League Young Player of the Month Award for April.

St Mirren manager, Gus MacPherson believes it is deserved recognition for a young player who has grasped his opportunity.

He said, "We were absolutely delighted that Graham got the young player of the month award as there is no doubt that he has certainly contributed to our cause.

"I know he is enjoying his time here with us and it is a good part of his personal development.

"It says a lot for him that such a young player has come into a new club and had the effect that he has had, but the most important thing is that he has earned the respect of everybody in the dressing-room."

Carey is on-loan from Celtic until the end of this season when by which time he will also be out of contract with the Glasgow club.

Gus admits that he would like to have the player stay with St Mirren but he knows that Celtic are the team in pole position for the player's services.

He said, "Graham is still under contract with Celtic and we are grateful to them for allowing him to come out on loan to play for us, and it has worked out well.

"We will explore all possibilities and see if anything can be done but we have got to remember that he is a Celtic player and we have the utmost respect for that."

At the beginning of the week things were looking bleak on the injury front but after a good week's preparations the Saints gaffer confirms that things are looking up.

He said, "We have had a good week of training at Ralston, we haven't strayed too far from the normal preparation as we kept things familiar for everybody, and making sure that all the players understand what is required to get the right result.

"Lee Mair is suspended but aside from him, Jack Ross and Tom Brighton, everybody else is available for selection for tomorrow's game.

"That is a wee boost as we obviously had a bit of concern about a few of the players earlier in the week but they all trained the last couple of days and they have all declared themselves available for selection."

Tomorrow sees St Mirren head back to Falkirk where they tasted defeat three weeks ago. Gus knows his side didn't perform well that day but since then they have found their feet again.

He said, "We know the significance of tomorrow's game at Falkirk and we understand the importance of it. We had a fantastic result last week letting us put another three points on the board but it is important that we still have that same focus from the Kilmarnock game and take it into tomorrow's game.

"Everybody will remember our performance at Falkirk three weeks ago, and while we accept Falkirk also played well on the day and deserved the win, there is no doubt that our performance that day was disappointing. We must use that performance as our motivation tomorrow.

"Make no mistake, Falkirk will be very determined as last time there it was deemed that they wanted it more than us, so we certainly can't afford to have that same accusation fired at us after this game.

"We know it will be difficult but in the two games since that defeat at Falkirk I have been happy that we have picked up four points which is a good return."

There are no guaranteed keys to success but Gus feels that if all the basics are done properly then his side will have a chance of getting the points that will assure their SPL status for another season.

He said, "First and foremost we must make sure that we compete tomorrow. Everybody talks about formations and tactics but the fundamentals of football don't change in terms of competing, attitude and the desire and hunger to win games.

"We have got to have that all there in abundance tomorrow as you can be sure Falkirk will have all these attributes.

"If we get all that in our performance then we can't ask anymore of our players, and while that doesn't guarantee you a victory I do believe that if you get all these attributes into your performance then you can't ask for anymore.

"We must match Falkirk, and if we do along with matching the standards we have set in recent weeks then we won't be too far away."

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