St Mirren

David Currie
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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St Mirren assistant manager Brian Kerr has been talking to the media before the Buddies' Scottish Premiership match against St Johnstone on Saturday.

Here are the best bits from his press conference:

• St Mirren are trying to bring in a couple of players before transfer window closes, but Kerr insists the emphasis is on "quality rather than quantity" as they aim to "enhance" the existing squad.

• Kerr stressed that no players will leave unless there are new arrivals first.

• Top-scorer Toyosi Olusanya will inevitably attract interest, but St Mirren have no intention of selling him in this window. Kerr accepts that come the summer the decision is in Olusanya's hands when his deal expires.

• Kerr says that Mikael Mandron and Olusanya have "everything" you could want from a striking duo, adding they "would put fear into any manager".

• Kerr wants St Mirren to capitalise on last week's win over Aberdeen given the tight nature of the Premiership table.

• Dismissed the idea that St Johnstone are cut adrift at the bottom of the Premiership table, saying it would only take a couple of wins for Simo Valakari's team to put them on "the coattails of a number of teams".

Charlotte Cohen
BBC Sport Scotland

Toyosi Olusanya is enjoying the most fruitful season of his career. And St Mirren fans should enjoy the striker while they can as a summer exit looks likely.

The 27-year-old has resisted the club's attempts to extend his contract and manager Stephen Robinson admitted in November he was fighting a losing battle to keep him.

Olusanya was on the money for St Mirren again last weekend, scoring the opener in a 3-0 victory at Aberdeen to take his season's goal tally in all competitions to 11. He is the club's top marksman by a distance - Oisin Smyth is next most prolific on four goals.

Olusanya's electric pace and strength are a key weapon for Robinson's side, but his Saints career has been a slow burner.

He joined in summer 2022, only to suffer a catalogue of injury problems before being farmed out on loan to Arbroath.

Last term - his his first full season with the Saints - the Englishman grew more impactful, netting seven goals in 42 games.

This season, he has blossomed, coming up with big goals in Conference League qualifying, the Premiership and Scottish Cup.

His seven goals put him at the top end of the scorer charts in the league - outside of the Old Firm, only Sam Dalby, Bruce Anderson and Simon Murray have netted more.

Olusanya's shot conversion rate in the Premiership has also taken a leap from 15.4% last season to 17.1%, putting him among the top 12 players. Plus he's in the top 10 for touches in the opposition box and only two non-Old Firm players (Lawrence Shankland and Dalby) have had more.

Olusanya has had 15 big chances in the league so far this term and scored seven of them. By way of comparison, recently departed Celtic striker Kyogo Furuhashi only scored nine from 26 chances while Daizen Maeda has five from 17.

Since the Paisley club's return to the top flight in 2018, no St Mirren player has scored more than Jamie McGrath's 17-goal haul in season 2020-21. With nearly four months of the campaign remaining, might Olusanya top that feat?

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• St Mirren have won their past three league meetings with St Johnstone, as many as their previous 10 beforehand (W3 D4 L3).

• St Johnstone are winless in 10 league visits to St Mirren (D4 L6), losing their past three in a row.

• After only losing three of their opening 10 home league games this season (W5 D2), St Mirren have since lost their past two in Paisley.

• St Johnstone have lost five of their past six away league outings (D1), including their last three in a row. The Saints last suffered four successive away league defeats in January 2022.

• St Mirren's Toyosi Olusanya has scored seven goals in the Scottish Premiership this season, surpassing his tally for the whole of last term (6). However, only against Celtic (6 games) has Olusanya played more games in the competition without scoring than his five against St Johnstone.

Billy Hogg
Fan writer

After winning at Pittodrie just once in 37 league meetings between 1987 and 2022, last Saturday's excellent 3-0 victory marked St Mirren's third victory there in three seasons and further cements their status as a real bogey team for the Dons.

An opener from Toyosi Olusanya was followed up by a double from Mikael Mandron, who tripled his goal tally for the season in the space of 90 minutes, and piled the misery on Jimmy Thelin's side.

This was a trademark, textbook Stephen Robinson performance, and a much-needed one coming off the back of four straight league defeats.

Despite having just 26% possession the Saints never looked in much danger of losing this one, and picked their moments perfectly – albeit aided by some slapstick defending at times.

However, as comical as Olusanya's opener was, Mandron's game-sealing goal was a moment of sheer class, striking first-time into the far corner to send three points back to Paisley and thousands of Aberdeen fans home.

And having dealt with train cancellations, red weather warnings and some of the worst weather the country has seen in years, it would prove (once again) to be a worthwhile trip for the travelling Buddies.

As we all know, this has been a messy Scottish Premiership season, with most of the middle of the table struggling to find any form or consistency. St Mirren are no exception, but up next is a home game against basement team St Johnstone and a real opportunity to start looking up the table rather than down.

The Paisley Saints have defeated their Perth namesakes twice this season, but came from behind in both, and required a 99th-minute Roland Idowu penalty in Perth in December to secure a dramatic victory.

Saturday is the Saints' first of three successive home games, as they welcome both sides of Edinburgh to Renfrewshire in back-to-back weekends.

This run of games really looks like a hinge point of the season as Robinson's men aim to move upwards in the league and progress in the Scottish Cup.

Only time will tell, but Saturday's performance was a great example of this St Mirren team at their best: hard to break down and clinical on the break. A few more performances like that and we can dream of more European adventures next season.

Billy Hogg can be found at Misery Hunters, external

Jonathan Sutherland
Sportscene presenter

Zach Hemming: Praised by his manager for playing his part in a watertight defensive display at Aberdeen as the Buddies sealed all 3 points.

Richard Taylor: An assist plus big blocks and interceptions at the back to keep Aberdeen at bay.

Toyusi Olusanya:11 goals for the season now. A huge asset for the Saints and Aberdeen couldn't deal with him.

Michael Mandron: Toyusi Olusanya and the Aberdeen defence helped him on his way to two goals away from home.

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Kieran Offord has left Scottish Premiership club St Mirren to join Irish Premiership side Linfield for an undisclosed fee.

The league leaders have reportedly seen off the challenge of big Belfast rivals Glentoran in securing the signature of the 20-year-old Scot.

Offord had just been recalled by his parent club midway through a season-long loan spell with Crusaders.

The striker scored 10 goals in 21 Premiership appearances for the north Belfast club, netting a further four goals in five outings in knockout cup competitions.

"We are thrilled to welcome Kieran to Linfield - he is a player we have been tracking for a number of months, and we believe he has the ability to add more quality to the squad in this crucial period," Blues boss David Healy told the club website.

"His time at Crusaders has shown that he has what it takes to be a top player in this league, he has a good goal scoring record at this level and we're looking forward to working with him to develop further.

"I'd like to thank the club for their persistence in getting this done and also thank you to our Head of Recruitment Willie McKeown for his hard work in getting this signing over the line."

Prior to his Crusaders loan spell Offord made 14 senior appearances for St Mirren and spent time on loan at other Scottish clubs including Stirling Albion, Alloa Athletic and Edinburgh City.

"Once we spoke to Willie McKeown and David Healy, we felt this was the club for Kieran to take the next step in his career," said Offord's agent Phil Korklin.

Watch highlights of Aberdeen's 3-0 defeat by St Mirren in the Scottish Premiership.

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St Mirren's Mikael Mandron believes things may be "starting to turn" in a positive sense for Stephen Robinson's side.

The forward scored twice in the Buddies' 3-0 Premiership win at Pittodrie on Saturday - their first league victory since Boxing Day.

The result means St Mirren, in seventh, are now joint on points with Hibs in the fight for a top-six spot.

"It is massive," Mandron said of the win.

"When you go through a season sometimes you can have little dips and we knew that we were always going to be able to get back to winning ways.

"But I think doing it in this fashion it really gives us the confidence we are doing the right thing and when you keep doing the right things, things always start to turn for you."

We asked for your views on St Mirren's 3-0 win against Aberdeen.

Here's what some of you said:

Craig: About time we took some chances, great win at a venue where we've not had much joy in general. I thought we had Aberdeen on toast, allowing them as much of the ball as they wanted, and hitting them on the counter. I couldn't believe how often the Aberdeen midfield lost possession, great three points, need to back this up next week.

Eddie: Where do we start, that is the St Mirren that we had last season. When we play our way, we are very good. Mikael Mandron gets some stick from some of our supporters but for me he is a much better player than he gets credit for. Toyosi Olusanya must be a nightmare to play against, even he doesn't know what he's doing, but he does it his way. Greg Kiltie is superb.

Steven: Fabulous recovery from a bad run of form. Doing what St Mirren do best.

Douglas: A brave decision to start Callum Penman in the game and also a good management move to substitute him after his booking. Several stand outs in the game for Saints, Olusanya for his constant harassment of the Aberdeen backs, the often maligned Mandron, but especially Richard Taylor in defence who I think had his best game for the club. Brilliant performance.

William: A great result, worked hard for and well deserved. However, the boss has to stop the players from undisciplined shirt pulling because twice in a game could cost us dearly. I don't want to be negative after this result but the support from both teams don't want the game stopped in this way. Sure it happens a lot, but Saints don't want that reputation.

Alex: Olusanya is a key part to St Mirren's great performances over the seasons, he gives a lot of effort and I wouldn't be surprised if he got a call from Rangers or a team down south in the Championship.

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• Aberdeen have failed to win in their last 13 games in the Premiership, their longest winless streak in the competition (since at least 2013-2014).

• Aberdeen have failed to score in their last four games in the Premiership, a run of 454 minutes without a goal.

• Aberdeen's last longer run of games without scoring a goal in the competition was a run of six games from 27 January 2021 to 17 February 2021.

• Toyosi Olusanya has scored seven goals in the Premiership this season (one in this game), more than any other St Mirren player.

St Mirren piled the misery on struggling Aberdeen with a 3-0 win at Pittodrie, meaning it is now 13 games without a victory in the Scottish Premiership for the Dons.

Saints strike pair Toyosi Olusanya and Mikael Mandron did the damage with two first-half goals at Pittodrie.

What did you make of the game today? Give us your thoughts here., external

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St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson: "We've got our just rewards today, we've played as well as that previously but then ended up conceding a set play which has been a large amount of our problems.

"You see the presence Zach Hemming means gives us today, people defended for their lives when they needed to be.

"What everyone will remember is the three goals which were terrific but we gave ourselves that base today that we haven't been doing previously, some really good stuff, really, really good finishes as well.

"I thought the front two were unplayable at times and I thought we deserved to win.

"Mikael [Mandron] gives us that presence and hold-up play and Toyosi [Olusanya] gives us that electric pace which scares the life out of people but he showed a lot of composure and quality today as well which he's adding to his game and I think there was a lot of very good performances, the strikers will get the headlines, but for me Zach and the back five were terrific.

"I thought they gave us the base to win the game from.

"I thought our press was outstanding to come to a place like this where, you know, the squad they've put together and the money spent to be as brave as we were to go and be that aggressive in the press. I feel that we got our rewards for that.

"I said we're in a very good position considering everything that's happened throughout the season, Europe, and losing three players in that period. If I can, I'll strengthen the squad, but this group of boys, they don't give up. You go through spells and periods where you don't win games, but we still keep believing in what we're doing.

"The league's so tight, you're still looking over your shoulder at second bottom, and then when you get wins they guess you're looking forward. But first and foremost, I have to be a realist, make sure we stay in this division.

"The squad we have and potentially the players we might be able to bring in, then hopefully can kick us forward and look upwards as well."

Tyrone Smith
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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St Mirren are perhaps victims of their own success.

They finished fifth in the Premiership last term, and sixth the season before.

With success perhaps comes increased expectation, but that expectation should probably be tempered with a big dose of realism too.

There are a number of teams in the division with much bigger budgets than manager Stephen Robinson has at his disposal, so there will always be bumps in the road.

But when his side are on it, they are a handful for anyone, and today they were on it, particularly in the first half.

His team were full of energy and intent, making life difficult for their opponents all over the pitch.

That is St Mirren back on the victory trail after 4 games without a win in the league, and if Robinson can get some consistency back, then you feel there is no reason why they can't find themselves knocking on the door of the European places once again.

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Toyosi Olusanya and Mikael Mandron were a formidable duo for the Buddies this afternoon.

The former for his opening goal and tenacious work, the latter for two terrific finishes.

Mandron's second, from the edge of the area, probably edges his showing ahead of Olusanya if one had to be picked.

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Aberdeen midfielder Jamie McGrath has been ruled out for "a number of months" with a shoulder injury and joins Dante Polvara (leg), Gavin Molloy (shoulder), Ester Sokler (hamstring), Dimitar Mitov, Vicente Besuijen (knee) and Jack Milne (ankle) on the sidelines. Jack MacKenzie returns after a three-game absence.

St Mirren defender Alex Iacovitti will be out for three weeks with a hamstring problem, while Conor McMenamin (calf) remains out. Lewis Jamieson has left for Sacramento Republic.

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Just a few years ago, a European adventure would have been a flight of fancy for St Mirren fans, yet some are now confident of consecutive qualifications.

While Stephen Robinson's side have slipped to eighth, the league is so compact that they are just four points off fifth.

"We're still in a very good position," Robinson said. "We are a couple of points off the top six.

"If somebody had said to us at the start of the season, you'd be two points off top six with all the off-field problems that we had, a run in Europe which takes its toll on every club, then we all would have snapped their hand off."

However, it is up to Robinson to make sure his staff and players focus on the task at hand.

"It's my job to keep people real and put a little bit of realism into the job and the club, and it's for everybody else to dream," he said.

"But certainly, I don't see no reason why, if we can kick on again and bring certain players that we're trying to get in to push us forward, that we can't get top six again.

"It's a crazy league. It's about who can put a little run together and we proved we can do that."

Last summer will be looked back upon fondly for years in Paisley, with a trip to Iceland to play Valur followed by a visit to Norway where they lost to Brann.

"When you've overachieved for three years as a group of players, then you're punching above your weight, and people that think that is the weight that you are, but it's not," Robinson added.

"We're a small club still fighting to be a top-six club and get our infrastructure in place and every day we're trying to do that.

"And this group of boys, hopefully aided by a couple of new signings, I'm confident we'll push on into the second half of the season."

St Mirren have held talks with Walsall over a deal for 22-year-old defender Harry Williams, who has six months left on his current contract. (Sky Sports), external

Read Friday's Scottish Gossip in full.

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Lewis Jamieson has left St Mirren to join USL Championship side Sacramento Republic for an undisclosed fee.

St Mirren would have been due training compensation for the 22-year-old forward, whose expire was set to expire in the summer, but have agreed a deal with the American outfit that includes a "significant sell on".

The youth academy graduate made 35 appearances for the Buddies, scoring once.

Having spent the first half of the season on loan at Raith Rovers, Jamieson now links up with former Stark's Park boss Neil Collins who took charge at Sacramento in December.

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Motherwell have signed goalkeeper Ellery Balcombe on loan from Brentford until the end of the season.

The 25-year-old spent the first half of the campaign on loan at fellow Scottish Premiership side St Mirren where he made 26 appearances.

"I'm delighted to make the move to Motherwell," Balcombe said.

"One thing I noticed when I was playing for St Mirren was the competitiveness of the league and the atmosphere at most stadiums. This is a great opportunity for me to come back and do it again."

Manager Stuart Kettlewell added: "I'm really pleased to welcome Ellery to the club.

"We've not had our issues to seek with regards to injuries within the goalkeeping department. Ellery has played plenty of football this season in this league, so he won't need a settling-in period."

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• St Mirren have conceded 16 goals from set-pieces (excluding penalties) in the Scottish Premiership this season, more than any other side. Indeed, seven of the last nine non-penalty goals they have conceded in the league have been from set-plays (2 x throw, 2 x free-kick, 3 x corner).

• After their 3-1 victory in August, Aberdeen are looking to win back-to-back home league games against St Mirren for the first time since October 2020, while they last did so within a single season in 2009-10.

• St Mirren have won three of their past four league meetings with Aberdeen (L1). Since the 2022-23 season, against no opponent have the Buddies won more times in the Scottish Premiership than versus Aberdeen (five, level with Hibernian).

• Aberdeen are winless in 12 league games (D4 L8), their longest such run since last going 12 without victory from May to October 1999.

• St Mirren have lost their past four league games, last losing more in a row in the Scottish Premiership in October 2020 (six).