Trialist Mallan 'in our thoughts', says St Mirren boss

Stevie Mallan helped St Johnstone win promotion last season [SNS] Stevie Mallan is in St Mirren's "thoughts", says manager Craig McLeish after the midfielder featured as a trialist substitute against Cove Rangers. Midfielder Mallan, 30, started his career at St Mirren and subsequently played for Barnsley, Hibernian, Yeni Malatyaspor, Salford City and St Johnstone. "Right now, he's a trialist," McLeish said following Saturday's 4-0 Premier Sports Cup Group C win at Cove. "He's training with us, it's been a few weeks now. He's been great, it's a credit to Stevie. "Probably at the start it was to use our training facilities and give him somewhere to train and now he's pushed it to being in our thoughts for possibly coming in. "I've had conversations with him, he knows our situation. It is a busy area of the pitch. It's maybe not a priority right now and we have to see how that develops. "It probably has to come to a head sooner rather than later. Stevie's been brilliant with it, he's been great. He was great when he came on." Holders St Mirren have two wins out of two so far and host East Kilbride and Dunfermline Athletic in their remaining Group C fixtures.