Alex Gogic happy to take ‘responsibility’ and help St Mirren youngsters

Alex Gogic accepts the responsibility of navigating St Mirren through their rocky start to the season as they prepare for Ibrox on Sunday.

The Buddies’ bruising and “unacceptable” 4-0 defeat by Hearts at Tynecastle last weekend made it just one win in 11 games in all competitions and they sit eighth in the William Hill Premiership after nine fixtures.

Ahead of the short trip to play Rangers, who beat FCSB 4-0 at Ibrox on Thursday, 30-year-old Cyprus international Gogic spoke about his role, saying: “Now that I am one of the older boys you have to try to guide the young players and motivate them.

“Sometimes they haven’t been in this position or played at Ibrox with pressure, or have had a bad game.

“When I was younger the older boys helped me and now it is my time and responsibility to help them.

“No one was happy with the performance on Saturday. It happens, it is one of those games in football sometimes, you can learn from the mistakes and get better because it was unacceptable.

“It is never easy going to Ibrox. At the same time, it is one of the games that if you do get a result it is a big one.

“We know how good Rangers are, it is never easy there, we have to be at the top of our performance, we can’t be anywhere near where we were last Saturday because that will get us an even bigger scoreline.

“They will come at us 100 miles per hour so we have to be ready for it.

“I enjoy that stadium, nice atmosphere and if the game goes our way then even better.”

Gogic was pleased to see boss Stephen Robinson on Thursday extend his deal at St Mirren to 2027.

The former Hamilton and Hibernian player said: “I am buzzing for him. He deserves it for sure.

“I am also here to 2027 so we are here together. You can see from the past what he has done. He is a perfectionist in a good way.

“He always demands the best out of us and he makes the players better and he is successful.”