Oran Kearney hopes hours spent behind the wheel will pay off with a signing spree that breathes fresh life into St Mirren's season.

The Buddies boss has signalled his intent to overhaul his squad next month in a bid to keep the newly-promoted side up.

Kearney said he's been putting in the hours on the motorway in an effort to identify new recruits and was now closing in on getting some deals over the line.

Asked how close he was to completing deals, he said: "We're quite far down the road in relation to that any time off the pitch over the last couple of months has been spent on that.

"There has been a huge amount of time invested on motorways and speaking to people on mobile phones.

"There has been a huge amount of work from that point of view and there is still a huge amount to do.

"But we're confident we'll be able to make a transition in January that will aid the club going forward."

He added: "We have a squad of 28 so it's easy to say we'll move players on.

"As I've mentioned, we've had a cohort of players who have played the majority of games and I think it's important they get some support.

"We need some fresh faces in to help us kick on and hopefully have a strong second half to the season."

St Mirren take on Motherwell this Saturday as they look to cut the gap to the teams around them in the Premiership table.

The Buddies currently occupy the relegation play-off berth, four points behind third bottom Hamilton and nine behind the Steelmen.

Kearney said it was imperative his team looked to close the gap to Stephen Robinson's side in an effort to make their rivals "sweat".

He continued: "That's the motivation, we are looking up to the two or three teams above us.

"The motivation has to be pulling those teams back into the mix and putting them under pressure.

"Games like Saturday become important, if we can cut the gap it brings them back into the edgy part of the league again."