Stephen Robinson praised Declan John’s contribution as St Mirren defeated Falkirk 2-1 to win their first William Hill Premiership match of the season.
The Welshman scored the first via a deflected free-kick and then crossed for Mikael Mandron to head in Saints’ second.
Brian Graham’s late header gave Falkirk a lifeline, but St Mirren held on to move into the top half of the table.
John was a threat down the left all afternoon and Robinson, who marked his 400th game as a manager, praised the former Rangers defender’s performance.
He said: “He has superb quality. We know what he can produce with that left foot. He’s been involved in both goals. And he’s a big player for us, as I thought Jayden (Richardson) was too on the other side of the pitch.
“I think the two of them give us real pace and energy and creativity. And we said to both of them, #don’t stop delivering balls into the box. You get the opportunity, deliver in behind their defence’.
“And so it proved to win the game. It was a tremendous bit of quality for the second goal.”
The win was the Buddies’ first in the league at the fifth attempt but Robinson, who revealed defender Marcus Fraser will have a scan on an ankle injury, said there had been no panic at the Paisley club.
He added: “We’ve had a very difficult start. We’ve played against the top three from last season, plus Hearts and a Motherwell team who are catching the attention at the moment.
“I think we’ve only lost three of our last 20 games, which includes two against Celtic. So, there’s a lot of good stuff. But we always feel there’s room for improvement.”
Falkirk manager John McGlynn was furious with how his team defended during St Mirren’s second goal, but felt his team had contributed plenty to a competitive match.
He said: “My feelings are a little bit mixed. There were a lot of positives to take from the game but ultimately I’m disappointed to lose it.
“The first goal is unlucky with the deflection from the free-kick, but the second goal is just horrendous from our point of view.
“We switched off at a throw-in. I don’t know if it was because we’d just made a couple of changes or thought they were going to take a long throw but, either way, we had players turning their backs and walking away.
“It was far too simple and there was a free header in the box. It was a Sunday pub team goal to lose.”
