St Mirren

Nick McPheat
BBC Scotland

Image source, SNS

Even amid a miserable start to his reign, there was still plenty of joking from Neil Warnock pre-match. He will know now Aberdeen's situation is no laughing matter.

A shift to a back four, with centre-back Richard Jensen occupying the left side of it, looked an inspired decision. But this late collapse will only further erode the fragile backbone of this team.

Another issue: Bojan Miovski, what's happened there? Five games, no goals and another subdued performance.

A cup tie against Kilmarnock next weekend will be a welcome break from Premiership action, but back-to-back away trips to Dundee and Motherwell look daunting.

When you take into consideration the disparity in budgets between these sides, it only highlights further the fantastic job Stephen Robinson is doing in Paisley.

A successive top-six finish, which is surely all but sealed, would already be a fine achievement. Bettering that with a European place would be superb.

Fifa's top dog has arrived in Paisley.

The SMISA Stadium hosts Gianni Infantino for the Premiership encounter between St Mirren and Aberdeen.

The Fifa president is in Scotland for an Ifab meeting, which took place earlier on Saturday in Loch Lomond.

He will be hoping to put sin-bin chats to one side and enjoy a good game...

Image source, SNS

Image source, SNS

St Mirren are unchanged following their midweek draw at Ross County.

On the bench, Conor McMenamin returns to the matchday squad but midfielder Keanu Baccus misses out with a knock.

Neil Warnock, still searching for a first Premiership win, makes four Aberdeen switches after a poor defeat to St Johnstone on Wednesday.

Jack Milne is out for Nicky Devlin at right-wing back, while Jonny Hayes, Jamie McGrath and Leighton Clarkson all drop out.

Junior Hoilett is in for his first start, along with Killian Phillips and Luis 'Duk' Lopes.

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St Mirren captain Mark O'Hara was back on the bench in midweek and fellow midfielder Conor McMenamin is also getting close to a comeback.

Ryan Strain is working his way back after groin surgery.

Aberdeen centre-back Slobodan Rubezic remains out with a knee injury.

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As if there wasn't enough attention on Neil Warnock after this week, the eyes of football's top official will be on him in Paisley on Saturday.

Fifa president Gianni Infantino is set to take in Aberdeen's trip to St Mirren while visiting Scotland.

Infantino is due to take part in the IFAB meeting at Loch Lomond, where sin-bins trials are set to be given the go-ahead by the body responsible for setting football's rulebook.

But with just one booking the last time the sides met in December, it's unlikely the match will give the Fifa chief extra impetus to bring sin-bins in early...

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VAR is not delivering what clubs expected, according to St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson - after the latest row over the technology.

The Paisley side were told a penalty claim in their midweek 1-1 draw with Ross County should have been checked by VAR - but referee Chris Graham was not asked to review the incident.

St Mirren spoke to the Scottish FA's referee department after the decision, who agreed the decision was wrong.

Now Robinson believes the implementation of the system is not benefiting the game - or supporters.

“I don’t think we thought this was what we would get,” said Robinson ahead of Saturday's visit of Aberdeen

“Goal line technology and offsides, VAR can play a real part in that, and clear and obvious mistakes like the other night, that was what we all believed VAR would be for and it has not quite been like that.

“The money that clubs put into it, for me could be spent enhancing the entertainment value of the league. It could be spent on the pitches, the pitches are poor at a lot of clubs.

"Credit to the SFA, they have been open and honest about the mistakes, they have tried to rectify that and will continue to do that.

“Ultimately, has it helped the entertainment value but has it improved the game and supporters’ experience? I don’t think it has.”

Aberdeen come to Paisley in poor form, with Neil Warnock's side yet to win in the Premiership on his watch. But despite the Dons' struggles, Robinson is taking nothing for granted.

“Aberdeen have a lot of good players, they are a good side," he warned.

"Yes, they are in a moment where they are not getting the results they want but if you look through their squad and the money spent on their squad, then it only takes one moment to cause you a problem.

“I have total respect for them. There certainly will be no underestimation of them.”

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St Mirren forward Toyosi Olusanya has signed a new deal which will extend his spell in Paisley until at least next year.

The 26-year-old, who joined the Buddies from Middlesbrough in 2022, was due to be out of contract at the end of this season.

But now the forward, who has scored four goals for the side this season - including the equaliser against Ross County on Tuesday - has signed an extension through to summer 2025.

"The manager told me he believes in me and what he wants me to continue doing," Olusanya told St Mirren's website, external.

"I feel like he has got so much out of me as a player and a person so I was really happy to sign the new deal and continue working under him."

The news comes on the back of defender James Bolton also extending his deal.

"I think Toyosi has got better and better," said manager Stephen Robinson.

"At the moment he is coming off the bench and causing real problems, and his goal now is to break into the team and become a starter which we feel he can do."

Image source, SNS

Image source, SNS

We offered you the chance to submit questions to one of our Sportscene pundits.

Q: Would you get rid of VAR?

I don’t envisage Scotland making a drastic call about VAR while other nations still operate with it. We need to accept it’s here to stay.

Within football there has to be an element of human error, players make mistakes, but the fact we’ve seen a big increase in errors means there’s clear improvement required.

That goes beyond Scottish football, though, you see that all over the place. What we need to do here is continue to upskill the referees. Their performances need to improve and there needs to be more accountability.

These incorrect decisions are very costly for clubs. Recognising an error is okay, but you can’t be offering out apologies every week.

St Mirren sit just one point behind fourth-placed Kilmarnock heading into this weekend's match against Aberdeen.

If manager Stephen Robinson wants to bag all three points against the struggling Dons, what team should he choose?

Pick your starting XI here.

We offered you the chance to submit questions on your club to one of our Sportscene pundits.

Q: Have St Mirren hit their ceiling under Stephen Robinson?

It comes down to budgets and resources, but Robinson’s done a magnificent job.

Realistically for St Mirren, if you’re an established top-six side season after season, the fans will be pleased.

They had been a yo-yo club at times. Their former chief executive Tony Fitzpatrick raised eyebrows a few years ago when he said St Mirren should be a top-six club. They’re now that club.

If Robinson can push for Europe he is still well punching above his weight because underneath them you have the likes of Hibs and Aberdeen, who you expect to do better.

Were you at Victora Park or following the match from home? Either way, we want your views on the game – have your say here.

St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson: "I think we showed a lot of character. We certainly weren't at our best. It's probably their only chance of the game, an individual error.

"Alex Gogic has been brilliant for me, so we owed him that to get back into the game.

"We should have had a penalty. I'm being told they didn't check it. There's no point me crying about it. They're not going to change the game.

"We had enough to win the game without a decision we should have had. I can't control VAR. We can only worry about what we can control.

"We're delighted to go down the road with a point. I don't think our goalkeeper had a save to make all game. We go down the road four points in a week, and hopefully seven by the end of the week."

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Thomas Duncan
BBC Sport Scotland

St Mirren probably put in one of their worst performances of the season, but still got a point. Their delivery into the box was poor all night, although they would have been aggrieved had they lost given they were denied a penalty for that Ryan Leak handball.

It's credit to the squad Robinson has built though that they had players like Keanu Baccus and Toyosi Olusanya on the bench to inject a bit of life to the final stages.

They combined for the equaliser, and Olusanya should have had an assist had James Scott stayed calm when clean through.

Although it was disappointing for St Mirren, they are still on course for back-to-back top-six finishes.

Kheredine Idessane
BBC Sport Scotland

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St Mirren academy graduate Lewis Jamieson says the hard yards he’s put in over the years are now reaping their own rewards.

The 21-year-old forward has started three of his sides' last six matches, and featured from the bench in the others.

He feels he’s growing into his senior career under the tutelage of Stephen Robinson and that it’s now up to himself to repay the manager’s faith.

“It’s been good," Jamieson said. "Hard work gets you rewards. I’ve been working hard here, showing the gaffer what I can do and he’s put his faith in me to go and do what I can do.

"It’s given me a lot of confidence. It’s probably the first proper, good run-out I’ve had at the club, so now I just need to repay him [Robinson] with what I can do on the pitch.

"He is good with me in terms of man-management. He’s made it clear what he wants. He’s given me a role where I can go and express myself and be encouraged by what I’m doing in training and take it into games.

"I need to improve. I don’t think I’ve been great in terms of what I’ve been doing on the pitch so far but that’ll come, hopefully. I just need to stay grounded and perform. It’s a big jump from the academy to the first team so you need to learn quickly and you need to understand what the gaffer wants you to do."

"Spirits are high and we want to keep going. We had that right from the start, even last year you could say we had a good changing room but this year it’s gone up another level in terms of togetherness so you probably see that on the pitch.

"Top-six is the main aim, to make sure we do what we did last year . Anything beyond that, we can look to that later on.”