Defender Will Haining believes St Mirren must push forward next season and establish themselves as a force in the SPL.St Mirren, promoted in 2006, have avoided the drop for a second year in a row and will relegate Gretna if they beat the Border club at Love Street on Saturday.

While St Mirren's main aim at the start of the season was SPL safety and they can now look forward to a third consecutive campaign in the top flight, Haining insists Gus MacPherson's side are looking to progress and challenge higher up the table.

Haining said: "I think my first season in Scottish football has gone pretty well and in recent months the team has progressed and we've played some decent stuff and got some good results.

"The one big disappointment has been the Scottish Cup but apart from that it's been a decent season where we've progressed.

"The main thing when I came in this season was stability and trying to consolidate ourselves in the SPL and hopefully we've managed to do that.

"In the summer it's up to the gaffer to bring in players but hopefully he'll get a few more with SPL quality that can help us kick on.

"We want to move into the new stadium as an SPL club and hopefully we've managed to do that.

"It's exciting times for the club now with the new ground. Work has started on the ground and the players will be looking forward to moving into it."

While Haining is concentrating on taking all three points against Gretna, the St Mirren defender revealed it will be strange facing the Raydale Park outfit just a few days after 29 members of their staff were axed by their administrators.

He said: "It's just another three points for us but if Gretna lose the game then mathematically they will be down, so they'll be doing their best for that not to happen.

"It will be difficult for them because they've lost a few players over the past few days so it'll be interesting to see what kind of team they will put out.

"It's difficult for us because we have got no idea what sort of team are going to be playing and who will be in what position, so it's hard to prepare as you don't know what you're going to be up against.

"So it's a kind of unknown quantity but hopefully we will just go about our own jobs and take care of it."

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