Mikael Mandron: St Mirren fear no one after running Rangers close

Mikael Mandron insists St Mirren will go into Saturday’s crunch game against Dundee with no fear after running Rangers close on Sunday.

The Saints striker gave the Ibrox defence a tough time in Sunday’s cinch Premiership clash in Paisley and his well-directed header after 37 minutes beat Gers keeper Jack Butland to cancel out James Bolton’s earlier own goal.

However, Gers forward Cyriel Dessers scored the winner for the title-chasing visitors in the 74th minute to leave the Buddies in fifth place, two points ahead of Dundee with four fixtures to go, including the trip to Tayside at the weekend which will go a long way to deciding the last European spot.

St Mirren are now five games without a win but the 29-year-old French striker, who has scored 11 goals so far this season, believes Stephen Robinson’s side should travel to Dens Park with belief.

The former Motherwell, Crewe and Gillingham attacker said: “We have to take all the positives from the performance.

“We were defensively well organised but we also created chances and know we can score goals.

“Definitely, we can’t fear anyone. If we play like this against Rangers, we can play like this against any team. So we are definitely looking forward to the next games.

“It (Saturday) is massive and it will probably determine who is going to finish fifth which is our target.

“It will be a completely different game than it was on Sunday. We will prepare as we always do and give it our best.

“It (Europe) would be amazing for the club. It’s been almost 40 years since we were last in Europe and, for the boys, it would be an amazing experience and helps raise your profile.

“Just getting a chance to compete against great teams would be good. We have worked so hard to get to where we are now.

“We’re in a place where we have a really strong chance to get fifth. Throughout the season we’ve put in great performances and got good results. We’re going to try and keep that up.”