ST Mirren midfielder Stevie Mallan admits the Saints have underperformed so far in the Championship campaign and insists they will take any kind of win to halt their slump.

Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Ayr United was the Paisley side’s fourth game in the league without a win, leaving Alex Rae’s side second bottom.

Saints’ slow start last season under Ian Murray had them out of the play-off reckoning early in the season, Rae’s arrival in December triggered a resurgence but they had too much ground to make up.

Mallan is desperate for history not to repeat itself and conceded Saints will take any kind of win at the moment as they prepare to face Albion Rovers in the Irn-Bru Cup on Saturday.

He said: “We had the same last year under Ian Murray, we had a slow start then we progressed. We need to do that a lot quicker than last year because we don’t want to be near the bottom of the table as we are now.

“When you look at the boys in the team we should be towards the top of the table so it is something we need to knock on the head quickly.

“If it is winning ugly we’ll take that just now. We need to get back fighting for a top four position. We shouldn’t be in the position we are in but it is something we have to sort for ourselves.”

Saints were punished for a slack first-half display on Saturday, after an improvement in the second half Mallan thinks the Buddies could’ve won it.

He added: “We have to do better as a team from the first minute. The first half we weren’t really up to the speed of the game, we should’ve played a lot better.

“The second half we were a lot stronger. I think by the end of the game we maybe should’ve won it, we had a few chances.

“It’s another disappointing week but we need to pick ourselves up for next week and get ourselves out of this rut as quickly as possible.”