TWO years ago, with St Mirren in real peril of slipping into the third tier of Scottish football, former manager Jack Ross elected to bring Stephen McGinn back from England to partner Stevie Mallan in central midfield.
The idea was that McGinn would provide the defensive protection that would allow the younger man free rein to indulge his attacking tendencies. But it didn’t click right away. Mallan had recently been courted by Barnsley only for St Mirren to stand their ground and refuse to let him leave. Having sold Kyle McAllister to Derby County, Ross knew he couldn’t allow Mallan to also depart in the same window if they were to have any chance of avoiding relegation.
Against his will, then, Mallan stayed. And, with McGinn’s prompting, what unfolded was a dynamic midfield partnership that would prove the foundation for St Mirren to go on to secure their safety on the final afternoon of the season.
The opposition that day were Hibernian who travel to Paisley this afternoon to face a St Mirren team once again struggling at the foot of the table. This time, though, Mallan will be lining up against McGinn in midfield, rather than playing alongside him.
“In the first few months of this season we’ve seen him return to the Stevie Mallan that I knew at St Mirren,” said McGinn. “For every nutmeg or ambitious long shot that he tries, there’s also a brilliant pass or a stunning goal.
“I’d still rate him as one of my favourite ever team-mates. We had a really good partnership in midfield as part of such an exciting, attacking team. And if you put Stevie Mallan into a team like we had back then under Jack Ross then you know he’s going to deliver goals and assists.
“When I first returned to St Mirren I had been quite excited to play alongside him but he was playing poorly at the time. I remember in my first game back I actually came on for him as he was playing well within himself. He had just been told he wasn’t allowed to leave for Barnsley which is a blow for any young player when they’re told they’re not allowed to get their move. And he was playing in a team that was losing every week. As a local boy he was probably getting the brunt of it as the fans knew what he could do and he was underperforming. So that was a tough time for him.
“But over the next few weeks you could see there was a real talent there. From that point for the rest of that season he almost guaranteed safety for us.”
Some tried to depict Mallan as John McGinn’s direct replacement in the Hibernian midfield once the Scotland player had moved on to Aston Villa but Stephen feels the comparison with his younger brother is unfair.
“They are totally different players with different attributes,” added the St Mirren captain. “John left for £3 million and Hibs can’t go out and spend even £1m replacing him so I think it’s not really fair to compare the two.”
How St Mirren must wish they still had Mallan and John McGinn on their books. Manager Oran Kearney has undertaken the winter clear-out he had been threatening for months but has struggled to offset that with the requisite replacements. Stephen McGinn hoped the cavalry could yet arrive.
“It’s no secret that the manager is still in the market for new players. With our squad size and the injuries we picked up at Celtic Park the other night, we need to strengthen. So we’ll see what happens. I hope it’s all done and dusted before Thursday so we’re not all glued to Sky Sports News late at night to see who might be coming in”.
They meet a Hibs side today similarly decimated in numbers. And McGinn knows these are the matches that St Mirren need to win if they are to stay up.
“It should be the home games that keep you up. But we’ve lost too many, especially to teams around us in the table. Hibs are in the bottom six so this is the kind of game where we need to pick up points.”
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