St Mirren defender Will Haining insists the battle for ninth place in the Scottish Premier League is anything but meaningless.Gus MacPherson's side head to Inverness for their penultimate game of the season on Saturday and will clinch ninth place should they win at the Caledonian Stadium.

Three points would secure the Buddies their highest finish in the SPL, at the expense of Inverness, and Haining admits that is a massive incentive.

He said: "We want to go out and win as many games as possible. The aim this season was to stay in the league and we've managed to achieve that.

"Even if Gretna didn't have their troubles I don't think they would have caught us.

"We've managed to overtake Kilmarnock and then the next target is to overtake Inverness.

"We're always setting ourselves targets as we want to aim as high as possible, and if we beat Inverness then we can go above them and that's what we're gearing towards.

"Some people may say it's a meaningless game but it means a lot to us as we want to finish as high up the league as possible."

A draw would still give St Mirren a glimmer of a chance of finishing ninth, however they would need to beat Rangers at Love Street on Monday to overtake Caley Thistle. For Inverness, Saturday's game is their last of the campaign.

St Mirren will move into a new stadium next season and Haining knows the club are moving in the right direction off the field as well as on it.

He said: "I think we've played better football this season. The aim was to consolidate our position in the SPL and we've done that.

"The gaffer has brought in some good players like Andy Dorman, who has been a terrific signing, Craig Dargo has done well although he's not scored as many goals as he'd have liked, and I feel I've had a decent season.

"I'm sure the manager will bring in more and he has already signed Jack Ross and Tom Brighton.

"If you stand still in football then it will come back and bite you in the bum, so you need to be progressing every year.

"The next stage in St Mirren's development is moving into the new ground and players coming in. It'll be an important summer."

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