DANNY GRAINGER has warned the St Mirren support that his best is yet to come.

The former Hearts and Gretna star impressed in his home bow against Newcastle on Tuesday night in the Buddies' final friendly of the pre-season.

So much so that the 26-year-old will be a shoe-in at left-back for the Paisley men when they run at out at Inverness in their SPFL Premiership opener this afternoon.

But after having last season ravaged by an anterior cruciate ligament injury to his left knee and sitting out nine months of the campaign, Grainger admits it will take him time to build up a head of steam.

He said: "I am going to need a few matches under my belt to get rid of some of the ring rust.

"Nine months out is a long time, but, having said that, I enjoyed the run-out against Newcastle and can't wait to get out there against Inverness.

"Once again Inverness have made a good few changes, and, just like he did last season, no doubt Terry Butcher will have unearthed a few gems. It is as tough an opener as we could have got.

"I just can't wait to get going again. Having missed so much of last season following the injury, I am as hungry as I have ever been to make a success of my fresh start at St Mirren."

While Grainger had options to re-launch his career down south, he chose to hook up with Danny Lennon, his former youth coach at Gretna, and believes there is no reason why St Mirren can't challenge for a top-six slot.

He said: "I was just a bairn at Gretna when Danny was youth coach. He is still preaching the same brand of football as he did when I was 15.

"St Mirren like to play football with the ball on the deck and that's always been Danny's philosophy on the game.

"He tries to instill confidence in his players so they want to pass the ball. That was a positive thing for me as bairn and it remains so now.

"I was hoping for a move to England but once I spoke to Danny and saw the facilities at St Mirren I was more than happy to come."