BY KYLE GUNN 

ST Mirren boss Oran Kearney has no concerns about whistler Steven McLean - despite the referee coming under fire from Kilmarnock's Steve Clarke. 

The former Buddie hit out at the referee after his side's 1-0 loss to Aberdeen and called McLean's performance 'the worst he had ever seen'. 

Clarke even went so far as to demand McLean never referee a Kilmarnock game again due to his family's links to the club. 

McLean is in charge of St Mirren's crucial match against St Johnstone at the Simple Digital Arena tomorrow, but Kearney insists he has no issues with the whistler. 

Kearney said: "I think he’ll cope with it fine. I don’t see there being any issues because everybody’s under pressure at this stage in the season.  

"Yes, it’s not ideal what’s happened to him in relation to last week but in the same stretch players go out on to the pitch under pressure, managers are under pressure, everybody feels that little bit of tension and you get used to rolling from one Saturday to the next.

“I’m sure like the players from last week officials will be the same. They very quickly move on from the game previous to look ahead to the next one The referees have their job to do and we have ours to do." 

St Mirren currently sit in the relegation play-off spot but victory over Livingston last week kept them hot on the heels of Hamilton Accies in 10th. 

The Gazette: Former Buddie Clarke hit out at Steven McLean following his Kilmarnock side's defeat Former Buddie Clarke hit out at Steven McLean following his Kilmarnock side's defeat

A win tomorrow could see the Buddies leave the bottom two for the first time since September and Kearney's charges seem to have found form at the right moment.

The Northern Irishman said: “Any three points is a big three points at this stage of the season. It was vital to win the first game after the split.

"Now we have got off to a good start we want to maintain it. It would be nice and we take and level of motivation or any angle you can get to try and create that.

“There’s nothing better than three points but to back them up the following week with another win and it can have a massive impact. 

"We’ll take all of those, throw them into a bucket and fire them out at the players on Saturday and hope we can get another big performance."

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