St Mirren

Colin Moffat
BBC Sport Scotland

Image source, SNS

St Mirren fans may have been a bit nervous since they led 2-1 at the break in their last two matches only to draw them both.

However, there were no real moments of concern in the second half as the hosts effectively shut down their beleaguered opponents.

As Hearts committed more men forward to little effect, Stephen Robinson's side were switched on at the back and had license to roam but could not find a killer third goal.

St Mirren had been slow to start and struggled for fluency from open play before the interval but made their physicality pay against a side low on confidence.

Olusanya's sixth goal of the season was an emphatic strike and he leads the line with impressive energy to set the tone for a hard-grafting side.

Image source, SNS

St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson: "I thought our defending and our shape without the ball was the best it's been.

"We looked like the St Mirren team of two years ago where we're very hard to break down. Set plays are vital in games now and we scored two, they scored one.

"We played well in patches, little doubts creep into your mind when you're not winning games but we've never faltered from that.

"If you're hard to break down, which I think we were today, you're going to score goals.

"We're three unbeaten now and that's a really good start to the season for us considering the run we've had and the teams we've played."

Image source, SNS

Toyosi Olusanya has scored in his last three league outings and is on six for the season already. He used his strength to unsettle a brittle Hearts defence and lashed in his goal in fine style.

St Mirren: Balcombe, Rooney, Taylor, Gogic, Fraser, Brown, O'Hara, Phillips, Boyd-Munce, Olusanya, Mandron

Substitutes: Urminsky, Bwomono, Dunne, Tanser, Smyth, Idowu, Scott, Ayunga, Van Veen.

Hearts: Gordon, Taylor, Halkett, Kingsley, Penrice, Baningime, Boateng, Grant, Spittal, Shankland, Vargas.

Substitutes: Clark, Oyegoke, Devlin, Oda, Rowles, Forrest, Dhand, Boyce, Drammeh

Image source, SNS

Charles Dunne is available after signing a short-term deal at St Mirren and Greg Kiltie has been back in training 10 days after recovering from an ankle problem.

Alex Iacovitti will be out until around Christmas with a tendon injury while Richard Taylor is struggling with a hernia problem which in time will probably require surgery. Conor McMenamin (knee) is making progress.

Hearts defender Frankie Kent is a doubt with an ankle problem, and Calem Nieuwenhof (hamstring) is still out but Yutaro Oda, Liam Boyce and Barrie McKay are set to come back into contention.

Image source, SNS

It is "utterly ridiculous" to suggest Steven Naismith's position as Hearts head coach is under threat, says St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson.

The two will go head to head in the dugout on Saturday as bottom-of-the-table Hearts travel to Paisley.

Despite their woeful start, Robinson has "no doubt Hearts will be challenging at the top end of the table".

The Gorgie side are on a run of seven straight defeats in all competitions, while the Buddies are without a win in the same time frame, but Robinson said "nothing will be taken for granted".

"I think it's utterly ridiculous for a manager who got a team into Europe, that are in Europe, that haven't started their European campaign, to have any kind of talk like that," Robinson said.

"He is a young manager who's done very, very well, I have a lot of respect for him.

"Statistics can be twisted whatever way you want, managers are under pressure every minute. Steven has played at the top level and he will certainly deal with that and he will stick with his beliefs.

"I am wary of Hearts every single time, they have a fantastic manager.

"Steven strengthened over the summer by adding some really good technical players like Yan Danda and Blair Spittal. They have very good players and huge threats from everywhere. Lawrence Shankland is one of the best strikers in the league.

"I have no doubt Hearts will be up challenging at the top end of the table, they will have a run in Europe and we have to make sure we are at the very top of our game.

"There will be nothing being taken for granted. When you say a (poor) run, the season has only just kicked off."

Dundee, Hibernian, Kilmarnock, Motherwell, Ross County, St Johnstone and St Mirren will each take in £1.6m in solidarity payments due to Celtic's Champions League qualification, with Aberdeen and Dundee United receiving £1m and £650,000 going to Hearts and Livingston. (Mail), external

Read Friday's Scottish gossip

Image source, SNS

• St Mirren have won just two of their last 11 Scottish Premiership meetings with Hearts (D3 L6), a 2-0 victory in April 2023 and 1-0 in September 2023.

• Hearts have only lost one of their last seven top-flight away games at St Mirren (W3 D3), scoring 2+ goals in five of these matches.

• St Mirren have kept just one clean sheet in their last 16 league matches, conceding 32 goals in this period. The Buddies have shipped 2+ goals in their last four, their longest such run within a single league season since conceding multiple goals in each of their final seven games of 2022-23.

• Hearts have lost their last four league games, more than their previous 23 beforehand (W13 D7 L3). It’s their longest such losing run since April 2023 (run of 5).

• Not only are Hearts the lowest scorers in the Premiership this season (two goals), but they also have the poorest shot conversion rate (3.2%) and biggest underperformance of expected goals (-2.7, 2 goals from 4.7 xG).

St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson wants the club's academy to recruit from all over the world. (Herald - subscription), external

Read Thursday's Scottish gossip

Image source, SNS

Charles Dunne's return to St Mirren is the "perfect solution," says manager Stephen Robinson as the defender rejoins St Mirren on a short-term contract.

The 31-year-old left the club in the summer at the expiry of his contract, but has returned to Paisley until January as cover for the injured Alex Iacovitti.

Dunne spent three years with the Buddies, making 91 appearances, and is a "fantastic character" according to Robinson.

"We needed cover and Charles has been training with us coincidentally for five to six weeks now because a move he was expecting abroad has fallen through," the manager told club media.

"It works for both parties on a short-term basis. We get a very experienced SPFL player that we know can come in and hit the ground running. He's very familiar with everything we do and is a fantastic character around the place.

"We’re delighted to have him on board again. He was the best that we could get and we’re lucky that he was still available in our situation."

With Iacovitti out until Christmas, and Richard Taylor struggling with a hernia, Robinson said, "we felt we had no cover on the left-hand side".

"Young Luke Kenny is right-footed and putting him in that area wouldn't be the right thing to do.

"Everyone was trying to put two and two together because he was training with us but there was no intention from either party. But we got the injuries and he became the perfect solution for us on a short-term basis."

Billy Hogg
Fan writer

Will St Mirren ever beat Kilmarnock again?

I mean, presumably, but at this point it's hard to say when.

Jonah Ayunga's own goal equaliser for the visitors on Saturday stretched Killie's unbeaten run against the Buddies to nine games, with Derek McInnes' men just having our number over the past few years.

Specifically, McInnes' personal record against St Mirren is absurd, with just one defeat in 33 games, including his time in charge of St Johnstone and Aberdeen. Six Prime Ministers ago.

For the Paisley-born Morton veteran to have such a record over his local team is definitely a source of frustration for many in black and white. At half-time with the home team a goal up and a man up, there was still a sinking feeling that the visitors were not going back down the M77 empty-handed.

That feeling was proven to be justified with Ayunga's header past his own keeper proving to be the only goal of a scrappy second half. But in the final minute, it appeared that the McInnes hoodoo had been vanquished when James Scott bundled in an untidy goal from a corner, sending most of the 6,957 at the SMISA Stadium into raptures.

However, the power of this curse - and the fundamentally correct decision by VAR official Andrew Dallas - ruled that one out, meaning for the second week in a row St Mirren would let two leads slip, and finish with a decent but disappointing 2-2 draw given the context.

While this was nowhere near as devastating as the events of last March at Rugby Park - which won't be spoken of here - this definitely felt like two points dropped, as Stephen Robinson's men find themselves sandwiched right in the middle of a tight Premiership so far.

And while it is obviously far too early for any sane fans to start panicking, the team are currently on a seven-game winless run and could do with breaking that habit sooner rather than later.

Up next on Saturday is another home match against a winless side as Hearts come to Paisley. Despite a very strong second half of last season, Steven Naismith already seems under pressure.

St Mirren's recent record against Hearts isn't great, with just two wins in 12. But of course, Hearts are not managed by Derek McInnes, thus giving them a decent chance in this one.

And after giving up four leads in the last 180 minutes of football, hopefully if they can strike first they might just hold on to it this time.

Billy Hogg can be found at the Misery Hunters podcast, external

Image source, SNS

Alex Gogic bemoaned the way St Mirren defended set pieces in their 2-2 draw against Kilmarnock on Saturday, but firmly believes they can achieve another top-six finish in the Premiership.

It leaves the Buddies without a win in seven games, but now their European exploits are behind them, Gogic expects things to change.

“Okay, we played in Europe but that’s gone past," he said.

“We had great training sessions, we are back on the pitch, everything. There’s no excuse, really.

"But still, it is a long season and we're collecting points, even on Saturday, even in the last draw against Dundee, it's getting points.

"We've put our standards high because we know we can do it, we've proved it two years in a row, and that's our aim.

"And the gaffer knows what players he has, and with the players he's brought in, it's even better. So I think everything will be fine.

"We could have done better, for sure, maybe delivered more balls, tested their defence a bit more, a bit more side-to-side, but fair play to them.

"Second half, I think we could have probably done more. But again, it's frustrating because they didn’t really do much.

"It was just two set-pieces [conceded goals]. So if you take that out, then maybe, but I think we should have done better."

Jonathan Sutherland
Sportscene presenter

St Mirren played out a 2-2 draw with Kilmarnock in the Scottish Premiership on Saturday, and have influential captain Mark O'Hara in my Team of the Week.

O'Hara probably falls into the 'underrated' category. He is a towering, driving force in midfield for Stephen Robinson's side.

We asked for your views on St Mirren's 2-2 draw against Kilmarnock.

Here's what some of you said:

Douglas: Saints certainly didn't deserve a win, it almost looked as though we didn't know how to play a 10-man team, we have been there before! Killie are not a bad team and Derek McInnes gets them well organised. They made it hard for us and we lacked composure in the second half. A point was all we really deserved.

Eddie: First of all why do referees allow themselves to get conned so easily. Back to the actual game Saints were sucked into Kilmarnock’s game plan, McInnes plays the same tactics everywhere he goes, his ‘coaching’ is simply to encourage his players to dive at every opportunity and miraculously recover as soon as they get a foul. Having said that we were awful.

Alistair: It’s clear that both teams learned the dark arts during their European adventures, Killie players rolled their sleeves up after going down to 10 men and deserved the point to keep the manager's record against us in his favour.

Stu: Killie have bullied St Mirren physically in recent games. You have to match their physicality and they play every trick in the book to give the ref decisions to make. They did it again today and even when down to 10 men, it never looked comfortable. We were slow with the ball going forward and poor in defence. A draw was what I had predicted, but it was a sore one.

Anon: Very poor today from the off. McInnes usually out-thinks Stephen Robinson tactically, and today was no different. Can’t help feeling that’s why we seemed so passive in the second half despite leading 2-1 against 10 men. Killie spend too much timing trying to con the officials rather than playing the game.

Image source, SNS

• Kilmarnock have won two points from losing positions in the Premiership this season - only Dundee have recovered more.

• Meanwhile St Mirren have lost four points from winning positions in the Premiership this season - no team has lost more.

• Liam Polworth attempted 55 passes in this game, the highest total for a Kilmarnock player in the Premiership this season.

Kilmarnock came from behind with 10 men to draw against St Mirren in a full-blooded and breathless affair that had a 91st-minute home winner ruled out.

That game had it all, didn't it?

What did you make of it, St Mirren fans? Was a point a fair reflection of the game?

Let us know your thoughts., external

Image source, SNS

St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson told BBC Sport Scotland: "It was eventful, most definitely. VAR had a big say in a lot of things.

"When they went down to 10 men, we didn't move the ball quick enough or deliver enough balls into the box. We tried to complicate it, we make poor decisions and the crowd get nervous.

"We didn't manage the game well enough and conceding two set-pieces is incredibly disappointing. We work on them tirelessly, and I have to take the blame for that.

"It's another point gained, another two goals scored, but we're conceding goals too easy.

"Decisions go for you and against you. I imagine they got it right. Killie's sending off, if I was on the end of that, I'd have been very disappointed. I've not seen it back, but it didn't look very much.

"Did we deserve to win it? Probably not. They managed the game, very street wise. A point is a fair reflection on the game."

Andrew Petrie
BBC Sport Scotland

Image source, SNS

This was a potential Premiership all-timer with more twists and turns than a South American telenovela - and a share of the spoils somehow seemed fair.

At half-time, you'd have probably lumped on St Mirren. They were a goal ahead and a man head, at home. On paper, that is a winning position that should not be lost.

Yet, it ended in a draw with Kilmarnock even threatening a win at times. They have already lost four points from winning positions this season.

And whilst they sit seventh with five points, they haven't won since the opening day of the league season against Hibs.

They needed to make that dominance count but substitute Scott struggled to retain the ball up front, for all his endeavour. Hopefully, the injury to Toyosi Olusanya isn't serious as he looks a little more clinical than he did last season.

Image source, SNS

Toyosi Olusanya. Scored with a brilliant header, and most of St Mirren's attacking threat went off when he was replaced at half-time because of injury.

Mark O'Hara is also worth a mention - a real driving force in midfield. Keep him fit all season and St Mirren should challenge most around them.

Roland Idowu was also keen to get forward as often as possible in midfield. St Mirren's midfield depth is to be admired but it needs some consistency in selection.