St Mirren

St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson confirmed that Aberdeen had made an approach for midfielder Keanu Baccus, but insisted that no player would be sold on the cheap on deadline day.

“There hasn’t been a formal bid, there have been conversations between the two clubs,” Robinson said. “No club has met our valuation on any player, including Keanu at this stage and I don’t expect them to.

“We are not in a position where we were last year when we had to take offers for players that were below market value. We have steadied the ship and got our finances right.

“We don’t need to sell players unless it meets the valuation of the board.”

Robinson added: “I don’t intend doing any business in. We have put our squad together, we have got the players in we wanted and we are happy with that.

“We have strengthened the squad from last year and if the window closed now, I would be very happy.”

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St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson insists his only focus is Saturday's league fixture against Livingston, and that he is not distracted by speculation linking him with the managerial vacancy at Hibs.

Robinson believes that the rumours show just how well his side have played at the start of the season, and challenged his side to continue their unbeaten run.

“I’m the St Mirren manager, I have had no contact from anybody,” he said. “I have been linked with every job in Scotland throughout the years and I’ve not spoken to a single club. I conduct myself properly.

“I can’t take my eye off what we are doing here. I’m totally focused on (Saturday), we have such a hard game against Livingston, against a very good team who have recruited very well. There is no eye on anything else.

“I think it’s credit to the players,” the 48-year-old said. “I am the person at the top who gets the credit and ultimately takes the blame for it but there’s a lot more people than myself who should be getting the credit for it.

“We have a really tight-knit group of staff who work tremendously hard to push this club forward so it’s credit to them. They are doing something right if I am being linked with things.

“Long may that continue if we keep fighting above the odds and proving people wrong.

“It’s quite easy to stay focused, I have learnt over time not to pay much attention to anything unless you hear it from the horse’s mouth. You just get used to that.

“For me ultimately the players deserve the credit because they are the ones that are getting any kind of attention on St Mirren Football Club or myself, and we need to keep doing that and performing as we have.

“We keep chipping away and changing small things and if we keep over-performing and players keep playing to the top of their ability then they will get linked with things and inevitably you get linked with things as manager because the team is doing very well.”

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St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson has been named as the Scottish Premiership manager of the month for August, after the Buddies' unbeaten start to the league campaign.

The Paisley side have beaten Dundee and Hibs, as well as drawing with Aberdeen, and currently sit second in the table behind Celtic.

"As every manager says, it’s not just one person at the football, it’s a culmination of everyone’s hard work over a period of time," Robinson said.

"We’re starting to reap the rewards of it and this month it’s been recognised. It’s credit to everybody and even more so to the players for their performances."

Defender Ryan Strain was also named as player of the month for August, as further reward for St Mirren's impressive campaign to date.

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• St. Mirren have the highest shot conversion rate in the Scottish Premiership this season (19.4%), while no side has scored more goals so far than the Buddies (7 from 36 shots).

• St. Mirren have won two of their first three (D1) Scottish Premiership matches for the first time since 2020-21 and are unbeaten in their first three for the first time in the top-flight since 2011-12.

• Livingston have failed to score in three of their last four Scottish Premiership matches and have drawn a blank in six of their last nine in the league, although they did score three last time out against Hibernian.

• St. Mirren have scored at least once in all eight of their top-flight trips to Livingston, remaining unbeaten in the last four (W2 D2).

• Livingston are winless in their last 10 league meetings with St. Mirren (D5 L5) since a 2-1 victory in February 2020 under Gary Holt.

Time is quickly running out, with the transfer window slamming shut on Friday at 23:30 BST.

Where does your team still need to strengthen?

Tell us your dream deadline day here.

St Mirren will be looking to maintain their excellent early-season form with victory over Livingston on Saturday.

Put yourself in Stephen Robinson's shoes and tell us your starting XI here.

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Mark Jardine, Misery Hunters podcast, external

The temptation after having snatched a draw from the jaws of victory is to fall into despair or disappointment, but not this Talking Point. Not today.

It would be easy to wallow in the surrendering of a couple of points to a freak free-kick goal from the sideline and an at least mildly controversial 100th-minute penalty, but there will be plenty of time for such misery later in the season.

For now, this is an acknowledgement of progress. An Aberdeen side that finished the last campaign as the form side in the division, comfortable on their third-place perch, were the visitors to Paisley.

Stephen Robinson's five-figure spend on Conor McMenamin was exceptional; Aberdeen can slot a number of six-figure purchases into their line-up while Dave Cormack continues to window shop for another few days.

And, for more than 100 minutes on this late summer Sunday, the Dons were reduced to little more than the supporting cast. A normally possession-shy Saints side had as much of the ball as they wanted. They dwarfed their opponents in shots on goal, finding the net on four occasions, though VAR justifiably intervened on a couple.

In seasons past, I'm quite confident I'd have spent this week spitting feathers and shouting into the social media void about the injustice of it all. However, this feels like a new St Mirren. Every point doesn't have to be a prisoner. A couple of lost points needn't be the end of the world, as we'll have a chance to do it all again this weekend.

The longer this level of performance continues, the more likely that a club owner with deeper pockets will take notice of Robinson and what he's building in black and white.

St Mirren winger Conor McMenamin has been included in the Northern Ireland squad for next month's Euro 2024 qualifiers against Slovenia and Kazakhstan.

McMenamin, 28, has six caps for his country and featured as a substitute in their past two qualifiers, 1-0 defeats by Denmark and Kazakhstan.

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Greg Kiltie is focusing on the positives of St Mirren’s dominant performance against Aberdeen despite the agony of conceding a late equaliser.

Stephen Robinson’s side were heading for the Scottish Premiership top spot until Bojan Miovski’s penalty 10 minutes into stoppage time rescued an ill-deserved 2-2 draw for the Dons in Paisley.

The goal denied Saints a seventh successive win but they will go top of the league on Saturday if they beat Livingston away.

Kiltie, who scored St Mirren's equaliser in the 2-2 draw, said: "It was one of those days where it wasn't meant to be but I definitely thought the way we played was a positive and to come away disappointed says it all.

"Overall, 90 minutes' worth, it was probably one of the best performances, or 105 minutes' worth. We dominated the game and played really well, limited what they were doing and were positive ourselves.

"It's just one of those days where it doesn't quite fall for you but we need to take the positives that we did play so well and take that forward.

"It shows how far we have come that when we draw like that we are so disappointed. To think you should have won three games out of three in the league and having that feeling shows where we are at.

"It's obviously disappointing, you never want to finish the game like that, but we are just trying to stay as positive as we can because everyone here saw the way we played and, if we play like that, nine times out of 10 you probably come away with a positive result."

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Former Scotland midfielder Michael Stewart believes that St Mirren can count themselves hugely unfortunate not to take all three points from their Scottish Premiership clash with Aberdeen at the weekend.

Stephen Robinson's side had two goals disallowed, and Bojan Miovski appeared to strike the ball twice from the spot for his late equaliser.

"St Mirren would have gone top of the table [had they won]. They deserved to win, they were the better side," Stewart said on Sportscene.

"A lot of calls went Aberdeen's way, which were correct, but without VAR, they could have gone the opposite way.

"The penalty at the end didn't look right, and I'm very surprised that it was allowed to stand.

"Stephen Robinson will be delighted with how St Mirren have started the season, but he'll be bitterly disappointed not to take three points from that game."

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Greg Kiltie, scorer of St Mirren's penalty against Aberdeen, has made Sportscene presenter, Jonathan Sutherland's team of the week.

Kiltie deservedly pulled the Buddies level from the spot, but also had three shots at Kelle Roos' goa, with two on target. He had a match-high, 19 entries in the final third, too.

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We asked you for your views after St Mirren drew 2-2 with Aberdeen on Sunday.

Here's what you had to say:

Stuart: We played Aberdeen off the park. The only time Aberdeen were in our half in the first half, they got a bizarre goal from a free-kick. Second half saw us camp in Aberdeen's half and take the lead. With a bit more composure, one or two decisions going our way, we would have been comfortable winners. As it was, it felt like Aberdeen stole a point.

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Were you at the SMiSA Stadim on Sunday or following the match from home?

Either way, want your views on the game – have your say here.

St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson: "Let's give the players credit they were outstanding.

"The style of football, the way we played and have been all season, we dominated from start to finish.

"We should've taken three points from it. Sometimes you need a bit of luck - we didn't have that, especially at the end. But the character and quality of the players, against a very good Aberdeen side, we made them look average today."

Robinson is also asked about claims that Bojan Miovski's equaliser came through a 'double touch' penalty.

"I don't know, I'm miles away from it. I think, if that dominates the headlines and the talk, I think it's an injustice to the play and quality we put on show today.

"We didn't have the luck of the decisions today. We had two goals disallowed and a penalty given by VAR, at both ends to be fair. But we feel aggrieved not to have three points that our play and performance merited.

"But all you can do is keep doing that. I'm delighted with this group of boys. They give everything and play with a lot of quality they don't maybe get credit for."

Thomas Duncan, BBC Sport Scotland

St Mirren will play much, much worse than they did here and win games this season. Stephen Robinson will be utterly baffled at how his side did not make history by becoming the first St Mirren team to win their first three top-flight games in 75 years.

As usual they were organised and intense, with plenty of quality in the wing-back and forward areas with Scott Taner, Ryan Strain, Greg Kiltie, and Conor McMenamin all outstanding again.

It was incredible they found themselves down at the break, but that did not make it inevitable they would go and get themselves in a position to win the game. Their attitude to continue despite the early sucker punch was admirable.

Having victory snatched from them will hurt, but they have been excellent this season.

St Mirren have sent a second youth player on loan to Northern Ireland's Premiership in a matter of days, with defender Luke Kenny joining Cliftonville for the rest of the season.

The 19-year-old made his Buddies debut as a substitute in a Viaplay Cup win over Cowdenbeath and also came on against Forfar Athletic earlier this season.

Now he follows Fraser Taylor, the midfielder who joined Ballymena United, although St Mirren have an option to recall Kenny in January.

Manager Stephen Robinson told his club website: "It's a super move for Luke. Cliftonville are a really good side managed by a top manager in Jim Magilton.

"He'll drive Luke's standards and it's a fantastic opportunity to get game time at a really good standard. We're really looking forward to seeing how he progresses."

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Thierry Small has returned to St Mirren for a second loan spell, with manager Stephen Robinson saying the Southampton wing-back "is someone we've chased all summer".

The 19-year-old spent the second half of last season in Paisley, making 15 appearances - seven of them starts, and will now spend a whole campaign with the Scottish Premiership club.

"We got glimpses of his potential last season: his pace, his energy and his quality," Robinson told his club website. "We're hoping for more that again.

"We know him as a person. We know his strengths and weaknesses. He's still a young kid and we aim to keep developing him, but certainly I feel he'll be a big asset for the squad.

"We've only had one in at left-back and left wing-back, which has meant moving others around and out of their best positions for cover.

"Scott Tanser has been excellent for me, but Thierry brings real competition in that area and he can also play in at right wing-back and can play further up the pitch. In a tight squad, Thierry gives me a multitude of options."

Stephen Robinson does not expect Aberdeen to be hampered by their European exertions when they visit St Mirren in Sunday's Scottish Premiership match.

The Dons drew 2-2 with Swedish hosts BK Hacken in Thursday's Europa League play-off first leg.

“Aberdeen have a very big squad," said St Mirren boss Robinson. "They have signed three players this week, I believe. So, I don’t think numbers will be affected.

“They have like-for-like in every position so that won’t be an issue. They will have plenty of days' rest in between so it will be just as it always is, a tough game against Aberdeen.

“At home we don’t fear anyone at all and we look forward to the game on Sunday.

“Aberdeen have spent heavily and invested heavily in their squad and it is up to us to match that and be prepared for a very hard game."

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St Mirren midfielder Alex Gogic sustained a cut to his head in midweek but should be fine for the visit of Aberdeen. Attacker Jonah Ayunga is still working his way back from a long-term knee problem.

Finland defender Richard Jensen will be assessed after joining the Dons on Wednesday while fellow centre-backs Rhys Williams and Angus MacDonald are building up their fitness following injury.

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