Chapman hails 'massive' six points from opening league fixtures

[SNS] St Mirren goalkeeper Jacob Chapman insists taking maximum points from their opening two Premiership games "sets the tempo" for the season after they overcame St Johnstone 1-0 at home. Killian Philipps' second-half penalty was decisive after Chapman laid the foundation with an earlier spot-kick save from Jamie Gullan. The win leaves Craig McLeish's side top of the table on six points following a strong opening to the campaign. "It's massive," the Australian told BBC Scotland. "That was the goal for these two games. The manager was driving that into us this week. "Stay top of the table for as long as you can. Show everyone how good we are. "We have a top, top group here. We fully back ourselves to do that. "Now we've just got to build on this and keep going." No-one at St Mirren will be getting carried away but the opening to their league season is in stark contrast to having to come through a relegation play-off last term. The former Huddersfield stopper, who signed a two-year deal to join this summer, believes the strong start will stand them in good stead heading into their Premier Sports Cup tie against Rangers at Ibrox next weekend. "It's nice to do our first game of the season at home as well, but we need to go and do it there [at Ibrox] as well," Chapman said. "We fully back ourselves to go and play our type of football there and be strong. "It doesn't matter if we play Rangers or Celtic at home or away. "It's what we're about and we'll go there with full confidence and belief and be as strong as we can."