BY KYLE GUNN

KYLE MAGENNIS reckons Saturday’s comeback victory over Ross County could prove vital for St Mirren tonight as they prepare to line up against Hibernian. 

The 21-year-old started as captain as goals from Sean McLoughlin and Sam Foley cancelled out Brian Graham’s opener for the Staggies to lift the Paisley side up to 10th in the Ladbrokes Premiership table. 

And Magennis insists it's impossible to underestimate the confidence boost that Saturday's win could give the squad going into tonight’s game at the Simple Digital Arena. 

He said: "It's quite easy for teams near the bottom of the league when they've gone 1-0 down to lose their head a wee bit, but I think we were brilliant. We kept ourselves in it and it was a brilliant finish from Sam Foley to seal all three points.

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"The win is the most important thing at this point of the season when you're bottom of the league. I think it puts us in a good position, especially with a game in hand over a few teams.

"The win gives the boys a lot of confidence. We've not won a lot of games recently, so the win is the most important thing. It gives us a huge boost going into the Hibs game now."

Magennis was handed his first team debut by the man who will be in the opposite dugout this evening, Jack Ross - ironically against Hibs at Easter Road back in 2016 as a half-time substitute.

After that Magennis was a mainstay as Ross led Saints first to Championship safety and then to promotion and the Premiership before leaving for Sunderland. 

And while the midfielder hailed the 43-year old as a “brilliant” manager, he is adamant that relationship is not going to stop him doing his utmost to get all three points tonight. 

He continued: "It will be quite strange seeing him in the opposite dugout but I'm a St Mirren player and now he's the Hibs manager so I'm obviously going to go out there and try my hardest and hopefully get us a result.

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"He was massive for me, personally. He was the one that gave me my first team debut and he put a lot of trust in me and kept me playing. I've been playing ever since so it's a huge credit to him.

"He's a brilliant manager. He's a very good man-manager and had good banter with the boys on the training ground. He's a top manager.

"Obviously it didn't work out at Sunderland but I think he'll do well at Hibs. You can see that they won against Motherwell which is a good start for him. Hopefully we can stop that and get another three points."

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