St Mirren defender Sean McLoughlin believes the Ladbrokes Premiership is the ideal place for developing players to gain experience on loan.

The Irishman signed for Hull from Cork City in the summer and was then immediately dispatched to join the Buddies for six months.

McLoughlin has started every match for Jim Goodwin's side since coming north and encouraged other young players to jump at the opportunity should it arise.

He said: "I've really enjoyed being up here. The main goal was to play and I've done that. I knew coming here to a new league would be tough but to have played in every single game is the perfect outcome for me.

"It's a pathway others should definitely think about. You're playing in some massive games against the likes of Celtic and Rangers. If you're down in the Championship or League One in England you're not really getting those stadiums or crowds. And it's always better to be playing matches than sitting on the bench.

"I'd definitely encourage lads in a similar position to come up here and give it a shot."

Goodwin is keen to keep McLoughlin until the end of the season but the defender admits he's still in the dark about his future beyond next month.

He added: "We've got a busy run of fixtures coming up so everyone is really just focusing on that. Once the time comes in January we'll sit down and see what's the best thing to do for the two clubs and for me."

St Mirren take on Motherwell on Wednesday night and McLoughlin admits they need to start grinding out results if they are to move away from the bottom.

He added: "We got a win against Ross County without playing particularly well so you'd rather have that situation more often given where we are in the table.

"In the last two games we've had chances to take something. On Saturday against Aberdeen we miss a penalty and the rebound to take a 2-2 draw which would have been a brilliant result. It's those small margins.

"But if we can keep our standards up it's only a matter of time before we get a rub of the green."