BY KYLE GUNN

With Vaclac Hladky's impending departure nearing ever closer, St Mirren boss Jim Goodwin has revealed he has already begun the process of looking for a replacement. 

It comes after, the 28-year-old, who was the penalty saving hero in last year’s play-off final, confirmed this season would be his last in Paisley. 

But while Goodwin is resigned to the fact that the keeper will be off, he has backed his number one to shrug off speculation and to continue to turn in impressive performances for the time being. 

“As soon as the summer window shuts you start thinking about the January window and looking for quality players," Goodwin told Gazette Sport. "In terms of us knowing that Vaclav was 99 per cent likely to be leaving, we have to put things in place to make sure we have a replacement coming in - it would be stupid of us not to be doing that.

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“We've identified a number of goalkeepers we believe would fit the bill. Vaclav will be a difficult one to replace but I'm confident he won't be distracted by the interest that's out there. If anything, it'll drive him on and give him more confidence.” 

Elsewhere, the Buddies didn’t have a game at the weekend as Hibs were in the BetFred Cup semi-final against Celtic, a 5-2 defeat, which was the final nail in Paul Heckingbottom’s Easter Road coffin. 

And with the next international break coming up after tomorrow’s game, Goodwin is frustrated that he can’t seem to get any consistency or momentum with his players. 

He continued: “Not having a game last weekend gave me the opportunity to watch Hamilton v Ross County but you’d rather always be playing. It means when we come back from the international break we’ve got quite a congested period. It brings the whole squad into contention when the games are coming thick and fast.

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“It gives you the chance to get some momentum going. You can see what it did for St Johnstone winning a couple of games. They were adrift at the bottom then won back-to-back and suddenly everything is rosy. We need to do that now.

"I believe in the group. We’ve had a disappointing first round of games but we feel there’s nothing to fear. We’ll go to Tynecastle with great belief and confidence that if we play the way we’re capable of then we can go there and win. That’s got to be our mindset going into every game.”

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