Paul’s glad to ally goals with good football

McGowan and his team-mates had earned a lot of plaudits for their early season form, but the former Celtic man was happy to finally be able to provide an end product, halting Saints’ run of three games in the SPL without a goal.

“The only thing we’ve been missing in our game was scoring goals,” he said.

“We’ve had a lot of good play and it’s just great to get a clean sheet and score a few goals.”

McGowan also hailed the change of style that manager Danny Lennon has implemented this season and believes it could take them to a top-six finish.

“The way we play now suits me down to a ‘T’,” he added. “Last year we were grinding a lot, playing long-balls and looking for things off Michael Higdon.

“It was tough and a bit of culture shock for myself but fair play to the manager and Tommy Craig for changing things.

“If we make a mistake we’re not getting barracked for it and that’s a good thing, it’s giving us confidence to go out and try things and so far it’s worked.

“Our aim is the top six. If we can keep that level going we’ll be in the top half.”