St Mirren

David Currie
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

I don't wish to alarm you, but I've started looking at how many points teams generally need to avoid finishing second bottom of the Premiership.

Maybe you've done this too.

Forty points pretty much ensures there's no play-off required. Thirty seven is usually good enough. Thirty five? Possibly. Thirty four maybe?

Any lower and things look decidedly dodgy.

St Mirren have 24, three more than Kilmarnock. The way things are going there's a clear and present danger the Buddies could end up scrapping for survival against whichever Championship side prevails in the promotion play-off semi-final.

One win in 13 is relegation form with a capital R. So is five wins in 29. Drilling deeper into the stats is even more depressing.

Eight goals in Paisley, half the total of the next lowest scorers at home (Dundee United). One away win with 30 goals conceded on the road. It makes grim reading so I won't go on.

Pundits who were saying a few weeks ago St Mirren would be fine are now thinking otherwise. Little wonder, when it seems whatever can go wrong, does go wrong.

The trip to Tannadice is a prime example.

Two goals conceded; an own goal (and not just a deflection) and a penalty awarded when the ball struck Alex Gogic's arm as he was appealing for an offside. What are the chances?

The there's the injuries. Stephen Robinson says this season has been the worst in his managerial career for them. For example, just as mainstays Mark O'Hara and Keanu Baccus return, Mikael Mandron is ruled out for the next six weeks at least.

Whatever the causes, they are where they are. The table doesn't lie.

And as Robinson said after the defeat at Tannadice, it is "time to stand up and be counted".

Like they did in the League Cup run perhaps, when Hearts, Kilmarnock, Motherwell and Celtic were put to the sword.

There's a doctoral essay to be written on the reasons for the decline in form since then. Did they peak too early? What impact did the cup run have physically and mentally?

The more important question now is can the Buddies channel that cup spirit and determination in the battle for survival?

Whatever happens in the Scottish Cup quarter final against Partick Thistle and in any subsequent semi-final, if you allow me there are nine 'cup finals' ahead - all of them in the Premiership.

If things don't go to plan then it's 10, including the play off-final. Maybe even 11 if you include the Scottish Cup final. It's been that sort of season.

Perhaps the Buddies will rediscover their missing mojo in Sunday's cup tie at home to the Jags. It's a great opportunity to look for it at least.

Buckle up, it's going to be a heck of an interesting ride.

St Mirren fans, we asked for your views on Tuesday night's 2-1 defeat at Dundee United.

Here's what some of you said:

Douglas: Everyone knew it would be an untidy game due to the moon-like surface of the pitch, but it will go down in the records as a very ugly win for United where neither team deserved a victory, never mind a defeat. Both teams were as bad as each other. We have lost the knack of pressing the opposition into mistakes and maybe teams have now learned how to counter us.

John: I hate saying this but in any other season the manager could be going into a cup tie on Sunday against a Championship side knowing a loss would see him out of a job. The League Cup win is keeping him in the post, but with only five league wins in the season, sad to say the clock is ticking. We continually look disjointed, always seem to shoot ourselves in the foot, and the football is absolutely terrible.

Frank: Worried. I can't see we're a win is going to come from.

Alan: Just when you think things can't get any worse we go ahead and mess up even more. Marcus Fraser I'm sorry to say needs time on the bench. What Alex Gogic was thinking claiming for offside as the ball is punted into the box is criminal. We will be lucky to get anything from our next four league games.

Chris: Last night was an opportunity to put breathing space between us and Killie but as expected, we couldn't take it. I believe Killie are too strong now to finish in the play-off spot, and while Livingston are 10 points behind us, I wouldn't rule them out in catching us. We have Rangers, Falkirk, Aberdeen and Celtic next, and I'm struggling to see where we pick up any points. We have no style or system in place, and that's even more worrying than the results. Something has to change, the fans are losing patience in the squad and even Robinson.

Watch all the highlights as Dundee United piled more pressure on struggling St Mirren with a 2-1 win at Tannadice. Available to UK users only.

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St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson tells BBC Sportsound: "It's a poor game of football because of the pitch.

"We knew what we were coming into and they played it better than us at the start of the game. We told the players, but they kept trying to pass the ball on a pitch you just can't pass on.

"The two goals are the story of our season. We score an own goal and then we're appealing for offside and it hits Gogic's hand.

"It rounds off our league season. I think anything that could go wrong has gone wrong. We score a great goal to get back into the game, but we're conceding ridiculous goals we shouldn't be conceding.

"We think there's a red card in there as well and that probably just rounds it off. We aren't getting decisions and, when you need things to go your way and aren't playing well, it's certainly deserted us.

"When you're under pressure, do the simple things well. Don't concede silly goals.

"Of course there's pressure to stay in the league, there's pressure to climb away from it and the penny needs to drop.

"People need to stand up and be counted. Jake Young stood up tonight and showed he has loads of ability. We need more of that from him.

"We need it from everybody and as a collective."

Marcus Fraser's own goal and Amar Fatah's emphatic penalty gave Dundee United a vital three points from a hard-fought Scottish Premiership encounter with St Mirren.

Read the match report here.

Let us know your thoughts here.

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St Mirren fan and Pie and Bovril supremo Div McDonald believes his side have suffered from key injuries this season but that opposition teams have also figured out the Paisley side.

The Buddies have a busy week, with a rescheduled Premiership match at Tannadice tonight that could see them take a step away from relegation worries, and a home Scottish Cup quarter-final against Partick Thistle as the Premier Sports Cup winners chase more silverware.

Stephen Robinson's side have not been in good form in the league, with the highs of the cup final looking a long time ago now.

McDonald told the Scottish Football Podcast: "Even by St Mirren standards, it's been a bonkers season.

"To be fair, our league form has been poor all season, even in the lead-up to the final. But I felt we kind of took our eye off the ball a little bit straight after the final.

"We did actually win our first league game straight after it, when we beat Livingston. We've only won once since then, so that was December.

"Of course the only team we've beaten since then is Hearts, who barely nobody else has beaten all season.

"It's been tough, but we have had a few injuries. We've got a really small squad. We lost pretty much two of our best three midfielders in Keanu Baccus and Mark O'Hara in the lead-up and straight after the final and that really hurt us. We lost Jonah Ayunga, which has hurt us.

"For me it feels like teams have just cottoned on to the way we play. We play a particular way, I think everybody knows that.

"I don't think it's as agricultural as people would have you believe. We do play some good football at times but we are rigid with our shape, with how we play and we don't really want the ball. We're happy to give the opposition the ball.

"At the end of the day, our Achilles heel is that we are the lowest scorers in the league and we just don't score goals. And away from home, we've not kept a clean sheet all season, so that's a big problem. We've had one league win away from home all season and that was in September.

"So our away form has been bad, lack of goals has killed us and we've been predictable. But we do what we do, and we're cup specialists."

Andrew Christie
Fan writer

Saturday's 1-1 draw with Livingston at the Home of the Set Fare Arena (I looked that up and still don't believe it) did little to change the temperature of the season, but it did at least stop it rising further.

For an hour we were organised, competitive and purposeful. Keanu Baccus and Mark O'Hara restored a midfield platform, Dan Nlundulu attacked his goal like a centre forward who enjoys the confrontation, and the structure without the ball was, for the most part, coherent.

Then we loosened our grip. The line dropped, the aggression dulled, and a single high ball into the box cost us. A reminder that in tight games, the margins are so often self-inflicted. An opportunity missed.

Now on to Dundee United.

Tannadice, in its current state, is not a venue for ideals. Watch Aberdeen's visit there last midweek, and through the blood filling your eyeholes like a James Bond intro, observe a surface that creates contests of trajectory and second contact rather than pattern and flow.

The pitch grabs at the ball, kills short combinations and rewards teams who accept chaos early. It will not be a night for 20-pass sequences.

United are wobbling. Their own supporters are questioning intensity and direction. On that surface, they will want a scrap dressed up as football. Fine.

There's a lazy narrative around St Mirren - that we are this blunt instrument. See "organised", "physical", and various other compliments so backhanded Paisley has knuckle dents on it.

This portrayal ignores the detail in our pressing and the work we do to create overloads wide. But if the conditions strip the game back to first contacts, second balls and defensive duels, then let's stop arguing with the caricature and start weaponising it.

They want a monster? Let's give them one.

Go long with intention. Squeeze the pitch. Dominate restarts. Make every clearance a contest, every throw-in a fight. Let our strikers occupy, let our midfield hunt.

On a surface that punishes finesse, physical clarity is not primitive - it's intelligent. Tonight won't be about beauty. It will be about who imposes themselves first and longest.

Andrew Christie can be found at Misery Hunters, external

• Since he left St Mirren in 2022, United manager Jim Goodwin has won five of his 10 Premiership games against the Buddies (losing three), his joint-most wins over any opponent in the competition in this time along with St Johnstone.

• St Mirren are winless in 13 away midweek games in the Premiership (losing 10 of them) since a 3-1 victory over Aberdeen in February 2023.

• United are unbeaten in three home games but have only won one of them and could draw three in a row in the Premiership for the first time since April 2022.

• After their 3-1 win in October, United could defeat St Mirren twice at home in a single Premiership season for the first time since 2013-14.

• St Mirren have won two of their past three games against United after losing three in a row against them without scoring beforehand.

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Craig Sibbald (hamstring), Isaac Pappoe (knee) and Bert Esselink remain sidelined for Dundee United.

St Mirren's Mikael Mandron is likely to miss out after sustaining a shoulder injury against Livingston. Declan John (illness) and Conor McMenamin (groin) missed the trip to West Lothian.

Jonah Ayunga (calf) returns to training this week, while Malik Dijksteel (groin) is out long term.

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St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson admits he's not expecting free-flowing football when his side travel to play Dundee United on Scottish Premiership duty on Tuesday.

The re-arranged fixture was originally postponed when persistent rainfall in Dundee forced a series of call-offs at Tannadice and the playing surface has shown the effects since the return to action.

"I went to watch the game against Aberdeen [at Tannadice] last week, pitch is dreadful," Robinson told St Mirren's official X account.

"It will be a horrible football match and it's who makes the least mistakes. You have to play in their half of the pitch. You have to land in second balls.

"You have to not take chances. It's not going to be a pretty game.

"I met Jim Goodwin actually in the hotel beforehand and he agreed. So it's roll-your-sleeves-up time."

St Mirren's 1-1 draw at Livingston on Saturday was their fourth game without a win and the Paisley side are looking to get the results that can move them away from relegation fear.

Robinson says he would be happy to win ugly in difficult conditions.

"Doesn't matter about the performance, come away with three points because it's a tricky, tricky pitch, as you'll see," he said.

"But whatever way, we try not to lose the game. Again, we came in with that attitude on Saturday, don't lose the game.

"We've managed that and if you do that, eventually you start winning games, confidence grows and we have to try to do that again Tuesday night."

Watch all the action as Livingston salvage a point against St Mirren in the Scottish Premiership.

We asked for your views on St Mirren's 1-1 draw against Livingston.

Here's what some of you said:

John: Well, that was another slap in the face. In a game that would best be described as "dross" we looked comfortable for 65 minutes.

A goal to the good by a striker! Unbelievable! Then we do what we always seem to do when ahead - concede possession and territory and lose a poor equaliser.

Can't believe that Livingston defender scored with a header so far from goal when we had defenders around him. As for the goal keeper, rooted to the spot again.

Stephen Robinson was way too late with his changes. They should've been made at 1-0 and not at 1-1. With all the other results going our way, for once, that is a sore two points to drop. A Tannadice win is a must. Nothing less.

Michael: These players will struggle in the Championship but that is what awaits. Shocking but not unexpected.

Alan: Another poor performance. We have Rangers, Falkirk and Celtic in three of our next four games. Do we really think we are getting anything from these games? Bottom line, recruitment has been useless this year and we will be lucky to stay up.

Defender Brooklyn Kabongolo scored for the second game running as Scottish Premiership basement side Livingston rescued a point against stumbling St Mirren.

Read the match report here.

Give us your thoughts on the game here.

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St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson: "I think it's a point gained.

"Any point away from home is a positive, we felt we could add three points, they had that one opportunity and score from it, it's a long looking ball into the box, we just didn't defend it properly.

"We had numbers there, so really disappointed.

"We concede from a big long ball into the box, oher than that, we scored a great goal, we hit the crossbar, we should have scored a game when Dan [Nlundulu] went through and Mika [Mandron] has the follow-up and then the game's put to bed.

"Nobody comes here and rolls them over, nobody, so it's a difficult surface, we know that, as I said, it's a point gained, another point away from the bottom.

"We looked a lot more solid, we worked a lot harder, we pressed the ball a lot better, so there lot of positives to it as well, we had some good opportunities."

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Livingston have Scott Arfield back in contention after a hamstring issue but Cristian Montano is suspended and Samson Lawal, Josh Zimmerman, Connor McLennan (ankle) and Aidan Denholm (hamstring) are all likely to remain sidelined.

St Mirren have doubts over Declan John (illness) and Colin McMenamin (groin). Jonah Ayunga (calf) returns to training next week while Malik Dijksteel (groin) is out long term.

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St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson has been speaking to the media as his side prepare for Saturday's trip to Livingston.

Here are the main points:

• On having Richard King's red card in the 5-0 loss to Motherwell overturned, Robinson says "we weren't going to win the game anyway" but feels "common sense prevailed".

• He admits the change of formation for that game was "a step too far" for his team "when confidence was low".

• Robinson says "I'm my own biggest critic, when things aren't going well I'll be the first to note that" but stresses "it's important that the fans get right behind the players".

• With St Mirren just two points above the relegation play-off spot, Robinson says his side are "not sleepwalking into trouble, we're very aware of where we are" but insists on their day they can "beat any team in the league".

• He adds: "I don't think anybody in the bottom half is out of a relegation scrap. Our job is to get points on the board and also drag other people into this battle."

• Robinson know "it's difficult to play when you're under pressure" but has urged the players to "rise above that".

• He is ready for a "real difficult game on a difficult surface" at Livi and adds: "I don't care what way we do it, we have to find a way to win."

• Robinson says: "You have to do the bare minimum to win football matches and we have to get back to doing that."

• Robinson believes "lots of things have gone against us" but feels "it could still be a very good season" with the League Cup already in the bag and the potential to get to another semi-final at Hampden.

• Team news: Declan John has been ill so will be a last-minute decision, Jonah Ayunga will start training next week but Conor McMenamin hasn't trained since Monday with a groin injury so will be assessed on Saturday.

Image source, SNS

• Livingston have 13 points in 28 league games this season, the fewest by any side at this stage of a Scottish top-flight campaign since Livingston themselves in 2005-06 (12 in 28).

• St Mirren are winless in 10 away league outings (D2 L8), but haven't gone longer without a win on the road in the top flight since a run of 20 from November 2009 to October 2010.

• No side has lost more points from winning positions in the Scottish Premiership this season than Livingston (20, level with Dundee United). Conversely, St Mirren have recovered the fewest points (two) from losing positions of any side.

• Livingston have lost none of their past five Scottish Premiership home games against St Mirren (W1 D4) since a 1-0 defeat in October 2021.

• St Mirren have only lost one of their past 15 Premiership meetings with Livingston (W7 D7), going down 1-0 in February 2024.

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St Mirren were successful in challenging Richard King's sending off in Saturday's loss to Motherwell and his ban was overturned.

St Mirren defender King, 24, was sent off in his side's 5-0 defeat in Paisley on Saturday.

With his team trailing 3-0, the centre-back was involved in an incident with Callum Slattery and the Motherwell player fell to the ground.

Referee Calum Scott did not see the incident, issuing the red card on the advice of his assistant, and VAR did not intervene to ask him to review footage.

The independent panel ruled King should not have been dismissed and he will be available to face Livingston in Saturday's league game at Almondvale.

Andrew Christie
Fan writer

The brief: a column of roughly 300 words on St Mirren. Cool.

Short of 60 words of "aw naw, aw whit, come on" for each of the five goals, I'm not sure what to do here.

Actually, if you'll allow me to go over by six can I have "HOW IS THAT A RED, MAN?!?" as well?

The annoying thing is that sense of not knowing where to start is one currently shared by Stephen Robinson's men.

Motherwell's system under Jens Berthel Askou is designed to force you into playing their game.

Their set-up jumps out of deep defensive shapes when you lose the ball and carries it forward at pace, or camps on the edge of your box to force high turnovers, depending on what's going to cause you the most problems - and make my head hottest - at any given moment.

They are physically dominant in individual duels, technically excellent in possession, and patient enough to just sit on the ball and suffocate you territorially if that's what's required.

It is a system that works, and they have spent seven months committing it to muscle memory.

Robinson's decision to switch to a 4-3-3 on Saturday evening opened up the pitch, created space between the lines, and invited exactly the kind of situations Motherwell thrive on.

Once they got their noses in front early, it was effectively over.

We switched to a 3-5-2 at half-time - the compact defensive shape that had worked when we battered them in the League Cup semi-final - but Ibrahim Said's deflected shot squirming under Shamal George early in the second period made that adjustment largely redundant.

Richard King's red card a few minutes later just confirmed it. 5-0 at full-time. That was that.

The lesson isn't about Motherwell specifically.

It's about knowing what your terms are and refusing to be dragged into someone else's game.

Bottom-of-the-league Livingston away on Saturday is absolutely massive now.

If we can't figure out what our approach actually is by then, the next three months are going to be considerably more stressful than they need to be.

Andrew Christie can be found at Misery Hunters, external

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Stephen Robinson will revert to his tried-and-trusted back three as St Mirren look to bounce back from the biggest defeat of his four-year reign as manager.

Robinson matched Motherwell's 4-2-3-1 formation on Saturday only to suffer a 5-0 thrashing and St Mirren will likely adopt more familiar tactics when they travel to face Livingston on Saturday.

"I changed the shape - it was a step too far for them and we need to get back to absolute basics of putting balls in behind people," he said.

"We were good at what we'd done. I've tried to change that. I've tried to evolve that with the squad that we have because we don't really have what we had before available to me at this moment in time.

"We tried to put two wingers on the pitch. We tried to be more attacking. We tried to go that back four."

However, Robinson insisted none of the goals conceded to Motherwell "were really because of the system".

"If we look at the goals, they were really, really poor goals," he added. "Four out of the five goals were individual errors.

"I'm not going to hang anybody out to dry. I have to take full responsibility. We make mistakes in life, but that has to be me that looks in the mirror."