St Mirren

Stephen Robinson insists St Mirren have consigned their Viaplay Cup exit to “the bin” and are fully focused on extending their best start to a top-flight campaign for 75 years.

The Buddies, whose 10-game unbeaten run ended with a 4-2 defeat at Hibs in the quarter-finals in midweek, visit Kilmarnock on Saturday in the Premiership where they’ve won four and draw two so far.

It marks their best start to a league campaign since the 1948-49 season when the Paisley side won five and lost one.

"We were obviously disappointed [by the cup exit]. There was a lot of good things but luck didn't go our way,” manager Robinson said.

"We are not going to get too down. It is in the bin now. It is an opportunity missed and we have moved on.

"We spoke about it as a group and we have to remember this is the best start for St Mirren in 75 years, so there won't be anybody feeling sorry for themselves or down.

"It [75 years] is not something I get too caught up on. It is important for the players, not for me or anyone on the staff, we just want to work away and do our job, but it is important for the players to be recognised for what they are doing for the football club, what they have done over the last 18 months.

"It is a very good start and the disappointment of Wednesday is gone now. We made a conscious decision to move on very quickly.

"In terms of analysis, we didn't do our usual in-depth debrief, we went straight on to Kilmarnock. That has to be the way. We have to concentrate on another difficult game."

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The Scottish Premiership game between St Mirren and Hibs on 4 November has been postponed because the Edinburgh side will be playing in the Viaplay Cup semis that weekend.

A new date for the league match in Paisley will be confirmed by the SPFL "in due course".

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• After their 2-0 win in April last season, Kilmarnock could earn successive league victories over St Mirren for the first time since October 2019 (run of four).

• St Mirren are without a win in nine top-flight visits to Kilmarnock (D3 L6) since a 3-1 victory in May 2013 under Danny Lennon.

• After winning their opening match to a Scottish Premiership season for the first time since 2018-19, Kilmarnock have failed to win any of their other league games this season (P5 D3 L2), making it the second time this year they have gone five league matches without a win (also February to March).

• St Mirren come into this match unbeaten in the Premiership this season (P6 W4 D2); they haven’t gone unbeaten in seven matches in the top flight since doing so across two seasons: their final five games in 2000-01 and first two in 2006-07.

• Kilmarnock’s Derek McInnes has lost just one of his 28 top-flight games against St Mirren as a manager (W12 D15), a 1-0 defeat with Aberdeen in August 2019. At home, he has suffered no defeats in 13 such matches versus the Buddies (W7 D6), the most he has managed against a side at home in the top flight without losing.

St Mirren are seeking to bounce back from their Viaplay Cup exit by continuing their sparkling Premiership form at Kilmarnock on Saturday.

Should Stephen Robinson freshen up the team after Wednesday night's defeat at Hibs?

Make yourself the manager and choose your Buddies XI here.

St Mirren's League Cup journey is over.

What did you make of the match against Hibs?

Give us your thoughts on the game here.

St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson said, "it's an opportunity missed".

"First half we were brilliant and in total control of the game, and we score a fantastic goal, it should have been two.

"Then, it was as if we thought, 'let's not do that again, that was really good' and we do something completely different at the start of the second half.

"We only have ourselves to blame. If you're scoring two goals away from home, you sohuold be winning, but if you concede four, you won't be winnning any games.

"We'll restart, we've been fantastic, the boys have been brilliant, I haven't been too hard on them.

"We shot ourselves in the foot with the 15 minutes after half-time. We have to defend better."

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Kheredine Idessane, BBC Sport Scotland at Easter Road

Montgomery clearly gives one heck of a half-time team-talk. It was hard to decipher who the home side were in the first 45 minutes, but the real Hibs certainly turned up in the second half.

Pace, energy, movement and goals. The description of Boyle applies to the whole Hibs team, who got a well-deserved ovation at the end as the home fans looked forward to November's League Cup semi-final against Aberdeen.

St Mirren will be scratching their heads a little at this one, though. They were comfortably 1-0 up at half-time and, indeed, should have been two up but for Toyosi Olusanya's wasteful lob.

Stephen Robinson's side did well to rally at 2-2, but somehow yet again let the game slip away from them after that.

It is a painful way to end a fine unbeaten run. Hampden was there for them, only to be snatched away by Boyle's double.

Hibernian: Marshall, Miller, Fish, Bushiri, Obita, Jeggo, Newell, Boyle, Youan, Doidge, Vente.

Substitutes: Boruc, Hanlon, Levitt, Stevenson, Le Fondre, Delferriere, Jair, Campbell, Whittaker.

St Mirren: Hemming, Fraser, Gogic, Taylor, Strain, Boyd-Munce, O'Hara, Tanser, Kiltie, Mandron, Olusanya.

Substitutes: Urminsky, Bolton, Dunne, Small, Flynn, Baccus, McMenamin, Nahmani, Grieve.

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Hibs will have Christian Doidge and Elie Youan available to start after injury issues consigned them to substitute roles in Saturday’s win over St Johnstone.

For St Mirren, Lewis Jamieson is a doubt with a minor strain while Jonah Ayunga remains out but will join in with full training this week for the first time since damaging his cruciate ligament in January.

St Mirren travel to Easter Road on Wednesday to face Hibs in the quarter-finals of the Viaplay Cup.

Choose your starting XI for the game here.

St Mirren defender Marcus Fraser is targeting silverware in the Viaplay Cup, and wants to replicate his triumph with Ross County in 2016.

The Buddies currently sit second in the Scottish Premiership, going into Wednesday's Cup quarter-final, and Fraser has hailed the work ethic and team spirit in the dressing room.

“That’s a good memory to have," Fraser said about previously winning the League Cup. "It was a while ago now so I would like to refresh that and have my own taste here at St Mirren.

“That was a great experience but it feels a long time ago now and I would like to get that feeling again and get that buzz with this group of players because I think the way we work all the time, we deserve that.

“I was still young at the time, 21, so you kind of take it in your stride and think ‘this is going to be like this all the time’. It’s not, we know how hard it is to reach the latter stages of cup competitions.

“When you are this close to getting to a semi-final you don’t want it to get away from you easily. All the boys understand that and we want to get our heads down, push on and get that next step."

“The way the boys work is absolutely brilliant. Every training session, everyone is on it, pushing each other. The boys who are playing and the boys who aren’t starting, everyone is pushing for the same thing. That shows where we are at the minute, it’s brilliant amongst the team.

“If we can get another good result, then that just builds again and you don’t know where it can take us. Everyone knows when we work hard, that gets us success. That’s the key message going into the games.”

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Mark Jardine, Misery Hunters podcast, external

If victory in Motherwell showed that the Saints can grind out three points on difficult afternoons, Saturday's hosting of Hearts provided further evidence that nominally big sides will have plenty to worry about when visiting Paisley this season.

Though this weekend's opponents are in a rough spell, that shouldn't take away from the performance put on by the home side. Stephen Robinson's system this year plays to the strengths of his group, and the players have committed without exception.

In the 26 years since I first attended a St Mirren game (East Fife, 1-0 to the good guys), there hasn't been an abundance of times in the top flight where the Saints have had the ball in the net four times.

For the solitary goal which stood, Ryan Strain and Scott Tanser reversed their roles from the lone goal at Fir Park, as the Australian gratefully accepted an unexpected gift at the back post with no mistake. Mikael Mandron and Alex Greive can each feel somewhat unfortunate to have had their second half finishes stricken from the record.

Despite the gulf in performance on the day, there was still the need for Zach Hemming to turn a late Cammy Devlin effort round his far post in order to protect the buddies' fourth win of the season. His growing confidence between the sticks hints at a more consistent spell than his second year in Kilmarnock colours, and he'll be facing his old side in the latest challenge to the Saints' unbeaten status next weekend.

Derek McInnes teams tend to hold St Mirren at arm's length, though the 2023 Saints haven't paid much heed to the form book or expectations thus far. For the third away fixture in a row, expect two robust sides looking to stifle their opponents and an all-action battle before the final whistle sounds.

Former Scotland winger Pat Nevin has hailed the mentality and resilience in place at St Mirren, after Stephen Robinson's side beat Hearts 1-0 on Saturday to stay second in the Scottish Premiership.

"St Mirren are managing to find wins in super tight games," Nevin said on Sportsound.

"Some people would say that they are getting lucky, but I look at that and think 'you're seriously resilient'. They know exactly what they are doing.

"It's less than a goal a game that they are giving away in the league right now. Stephen Robinson was gutted that they didn't get a second or third goal [against Hearts]."

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Zach Hemming, Alex Gogic and Scott Tanser have all been named in Sportscene presenter Jonathan Sutherland's Team of the Week for their roles in St Mirren's 1-0 win over Hearts.

Hemming made some vital saves, Gogic is a rock at the back, and Tanser set up Ryan Strain's winning goal.

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We asked for your thoughts as St Mirren continued their sensational start to the season with victory over Hearts.

Stu: We have been fantastic at home this season, and last season to be fair. Much praise goes to the manager for keeping the guys working hard throughout the game and to the players for giving so much for the team. Can't single anyone out; it wouldn't be fair too. Keep it up guys. Putting the pride back into the team.

Ally: What a time to be a Saints fan, every player gave 100% for the cause and we are now a hard team to beat. No idea why the Mandron goal wasn’t given but fortunately it didn’t cost us yet.

Andrew: We are doing well. Can we do a Leicester?

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Martin Dowden, BBC Scotland

St Mirren goalscorer Ryan Strain wants the squad to keep pushing after going six league games unbeaten to lie two points off the top of the Scottish Premiership after the 1-0 win over Heart of Midlothian.

“Big result today," said the Australia full-back. “I think I just read there it’s 10 games unbeaten plus the cup, so amazing result today and hopefully we can just keep pushing.

“I think it’s a collective from the whole team. We’re all working together, working really hard. We’ve got talent all over the pitch.

"If we can keep structured, not conceding, we definitely know we can score goals because of the talent on the pitch, so we need to keep our heads down."

St Mirren travel to face Hibs on Wednesday in the quarter-finals of the Viaplay Cup.

"We haven’t really achieved anything yet, so we go on Wednesday and hopefully get to a semi-final," Strain added.

“The cup is more for the fans. For us, it’s a great chance to win silverware and a great chance to have a big day out at Hampden.

"I think we want to do that for the fans. Hopefully we can get there. Big game on Wednesday.”

St Mirren midfielder Mark O'Hara says being successful is better than moving on to a new club purely for money. (Sunday Times), external

Read Sunday's Scottish Gossip in full here.

Image source, BBC Sport

St Mirren fans, were you at the game today, or following along from home?

Either way, we want your thoughts on another league win. Have your say here.