St Mirren

St Mirren's Saturday win at Aberdeen has boosted confidence before Tuesday's visit of Celtic, says manager Stephen Robinson. (Herald - subscription required), external

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St Mirren midfielder Greg Kiltie played more Scottish Premiership matches than anyone else in 2023, appearing in 42 games matches across the year.

A clutch of six players turned out 40 times, including Kiltie's Paisley team-mates Marcus Fraser and Scott Tanser.

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It might not mean much in the grand scheme of things, but how did your club fare in the 2023 Premiership table?

The disparity in the number of matches played in the calendar year makes a difference, obviously - we're looking at you Rangers, Aberdeen and especially Dundee.

But it still gives a decent barometer of who had a decent year and who didn't fare quite so well.

We asked you for your thoughts after St Mirren's emphatic victory at Pittodrie in the Scottish Premiership.

Here are some of the top comments:

William: Thankfully, we're back among the goals and again a big thanks to our keeper, the best there is. This result gives us hope of getting something from two very tough games ahead. As for 2023, we're so lucky to have had Stephen Robinson. That Euro place might still be there!"

Gerry: Much better performance by St Mirren against a poor Aberdeen side! Clinical finishing from the Paisley Saints and a really valuable three points in the challenge for Europe this season as the winter break looms!

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Winger Greg Kiltie believes St Mirren's comprehensive victory at Pittodrie had been coming despite a tough run of form.

He said: "Obviously delighted as things maybe haven't been going our way in recent weeks but today everything came together and we were dominant in the game.

"No-one in the group has been panicking that we've not been scoring, obviously you'd love to score - we just knew that they were coming.

"We just needed to keep getting shots on target and eventually one would go in. We were focused on doing that at Aberdeen. I think going forward we had a threat but defensively as a team we were really good.

"I think when we analysed the games, we were never getting battered. We never really felt we were playing that poorly in games, we just lacked the end product.

"We just focused on doing the same thing and hoped that end product came; if we just kept shooting, eventually it would go in."

Keltie is optimistic the victory over Aberdeen will be a good platform for their game with league leaders Celtic.

"We hope this will set us up. Obviously we have a really tough challenge coming up on Tuesday. You can only aim to go into every game and win," he added.

"Playing against the champions - who have also won - playing against the Old Firm is always tough, and it'll be no different on Tuesday.

"We will take confidence into the game off the back of Saturday but we are under no illusions that it will be easy in any way but we will go in with a game plan and hope it works."

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St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson tells BBC Scotland: "It's been coming, we've put those kind of performances s in the last six games and not had our rewards. We took our chances when they came, we were really disciplined defensively.

"The big difference for me was how we defended set plays really well. Aberdeen are a big threat, they have a super delivery from Clarkson but our organisation was fantastic.

"We have to be clinical. We got beat by a Kilmarnock side who were clinical through the week. We looked at the statistics, we knew we were playing well. When you don't concede silly goals, you'll get opportunities and we were clinical today.

"We can't win every week. We have a few injuries now which will test us before Celtic, but there's a lot of belief, talent and work ethic in this group."

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My utmost respect to those travelling St Mirren fans. Absolutely minging conditions, but you stayed to see all three goals and deservedly left with all three points.

How good was that? How would you reflect on St Mirren's 2023 as a whole?

Let us know your thoughts.

Andrew Petrie, BBC Sport Scotland

It was easy to forget that this is a St Mirren side who hadn't scored in their last three. They were full of confidence and swagger every time they went forward.

They had five shots on target, scoring with three of them - and it should have been four, had it not been for Mark O'Hara's woeful penalty.

After a poor run of form - particularly on the road - this victory is the perfect tonic for Stephen Robinson, and just rewards for a fine 2023.

Seven points away from the bottom six, they are in a fine position going into the second half of the season.

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Zach Hemming. The on-loan Middlesbrough stopper made plenty of saves to deny Aberdeen every time they ventured forward.

He's part of a fairly stubborn defence, who are also worth a mention. Richard Taylor is improving game upon game, while Alex Gogic is an absolute rock in his sweeper role.

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Aberdeen: Roos, Gartenmann, Rubezic, Jensen, Devlin, Clarkson, Shinnie, McGarry, McGrath, Duk, Miovski.

Substitutes: Doohan, Barron, Hayes, Sokler, Morris, Polvara, Duncan, MacDonald, Milne.

St Mirren: Hemming, Bolton, Gogic, Taylor, Fraser, O'Hara, Baccus, Tanser, Kiltie, Jamieson, Mandron.

Substitutes: Urminsky, Dunne, Small, Flynn, Boyd-Munce, Olusanya, Greive, Nahmani, Ayunga.

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Aberdeen defender Jack MacKenzie is back in contention after being sidelined since mid-November.

St Mirren quartet Jonah Ayunga, Conor McMenamin, Alex Greive and Stav Nahmani will all be assessed ahead of the trip to Pittodrie. Ryan Strain remains out after groin surgery.

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St Mirren chairman John Needham has said he's sure the club can continue their "good progress" into the new year.

Writing in an end-of-year update, external to Buddies fans, Needham highlighted a number of initiatives launched in 2023, while also stating a belief that the side can turn round their recent on-field slump.

He said: "As we approach the end of 2023, I wanted to provide an update ahead of the winter break and to have a look back at what we have achieved together during the past 12 months.

"It’s been fabulous to see the increased attendances at The SMiSA Stadium and the healthy growth in income generated from gate receipts and commercial activities.

"With gates regularly exceeding 7,000, the work done by the Marching On group and our pre-match entertainment organised and delivered by Paisley Panda & our SLOs, I’m sure you’ll agree that there’s now a much better atmosphere at home games.

"On the park, the team secured a top-six slot in the Scottish Premiership at the end of the 2022/23 season for the first time ever in the current format. Since then, we’ve occupied the top half of the league for most of this season after a very encouraging start to the current campaign.

"Whilst results recently have been less positive, it’s important to note that we remain in fifth place and have amassed almost the same number of points as last year (26 after 20 matches compared to 27 after 20 matches last season).

"We all feel disappointed when results don’t go our way but if we back the team positively, I have no doubt that will translate into better results on the park. We have built a strong squad as evidenced by the increasing number of players being called up for international duty.

"So, whilst there is still much to do, I hope you’ll agree that the Club has made good progress on a number of fronts in 2023. With your continued support there is no reason why we can’t continue that progress in 2024."

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Stephen Robinson insists his side can return to their previous levels of consistency as he looks to "turn a corner" on St Mirren's rough run of form.

After surprising the division with a charge to third in the early months of the season, the Buddies have slumped to fifth after just two wins in their last 11 outings.

However, the manager says that their work ethic will allow his side to find their stride again as they battle to remain in the top six.

"We look a lot of things, first and foremost ourselves," Robinson said. "What are we doing differently, are we doing anything differently that we weren’t doing before?

“It is our last action. Our final decision hasn’t been good enough and when you are not scoring the goals you should be scoring, then you get punished for mistakes. One mistake can cost you and that’s what has happened in the last few weeks."

“You just need a little bit of luck sometimes but we haven’t had that. How can we affect that because you can’t rely on that – we have to make better movement in the box, make better decisions with our final pass, but there is a lot of things to be positive about.

“As quickly as you go into these runs you can come out of them again. It isn’t about attitudes or desires, that’s all there. So when you have all that, you know that you can turn the corner and go on another run again.”

St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson has been speaking to the media ahead of his side's trip to Aberdeen on Satuday.

Here are the key points...

• His side's "final decision" has let them down in recent weeks and allowed them to be punished at the other end after not scoring big chances.

• Points to statistics contradicting recent form and says they've had 10% more possession in last six games compared to first six games.

• Also highlights that they've conceded the same number of goals in that period - "all the things that lead to good results are there".

• "Luck" hasn't been on their side in recent weeks but they need to do more to try and affect that.

• Insists his side will be able to "turn a corner" and return to their previous consistency, saying the desire of the team is "all there".

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• Aberdeen have only lost one of their last 17 home league games against St Mirren (W8 D8), a 3-1 defeat in February last season.

• St Mirren have only lost one of their last four league meetings with Aberdeen (W2 D1), winning as many of those four games (two) as their previous 10 against the Dons beforehand (W2 D4 L4).

• Aberdeen have only lost their final league game in one of the last 13 calendar years (W8 D4), although that was in 2022, a 2-1 loss at Kilmarnock.

• St Mirren have lost each of their last six away league games, the last five of which have been without scoring. This is the Buddies’ longest losing run on their travels in the Scottish Premiership since November 2019 (run of eight).

• Aberdeen’s Bojan Miovski has scored three goals in his three home league appearances against St Mirren, two of which coming from the penalty spot. Home and away, three of his four Scottish Premiership goals against the Buddies have been penalties.

St Mirren travel to Pittodrie to face Aberdeen on Saturday.

Manager Stephen Robinson will be hoping his team can bounce back after their 1-0 defeat against Kilmarnock.

Put yourself in the manager's shoes and pick your starting XI here.

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The Buddies have already got Elvis in the building, but where else should Stephen Robinson be looking in January?

What areas should St Mirren be adding to this window? Are there any names you'd like to see arrive in Paisley?

Let us know.

We asked for your views on St Mirren’s 1-0 defeat against Kilmarnock:

Stuart: I thought we started well but our form has fallen off. We've gone from every player playing at the top of their game, to every player playing well below par. We've become a bit predictable, and the form in the last 10 games would put us in the relegation zone, and not looking at a European place. Celtic and Rangers next, oh dear.

• St Mirren have failed to score in their last three games in the Scottish Premiership, a run of 338 minutes without a goal.

• The side's last longer run of games without scoring a goal in the competition was a run of five games from March to April 2015.

• Despite 11 shots (with the six on target twice as many as Kilmarnock managed), St Mirren's expected goals were just 0.48.