St Mirren

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Do you agree with Stephen Robinson's assessment that St Mirren deserved more out of that game?

What's going wrong at the moment? How can St Mirren end this poor run of form?

Let us know your thoughts.

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St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson: "I felt we deserved more than what we got out of the game. At the moment it's not happening for us results-wise. The performances have been decent but we've not been ruthless.

"They were ruthless, they got one chance they scored. We're just going through a spell where we're not scoring goals and that goes for the whole team. If you aren't scoring, you can get punished from one mistake. It's a ruthless business but we have to keep believing in what we're doing.

"They don't come any easier, no matter who we've got. I don't have loads of options, apart from the striker area. Among the poor results, they're some very good performances so it's up to me to find the combination."

Andrew Petrie, BBC Sport Scotland

St Mirren look devoid of the confidence they showed early in the season, when they were able to dig deep and find good results from nowhere.

They have two goals in their last five games, both coming in the 2-0 win over Ross County, one of which was an own goal.

Before the match, Stephen Robinson was asked what he'd like in January. 'Lawrence Shankland, Bojan Miovski, Martin Boyle?' he answered.

His current forwards might not like hearing that, but they aren't doing the business. Mandron, Olusanya, Ayunga, Greive, Nahmani, Jamieson - only Mandron has scored more than three.

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

Substitutes: Urminsky, Dunne, Small, Flynn, Boyd-Munce, McMenamin, Jamieson, Nahmani, Mandron.

Kilmarnock: Dennis, Mayo, Findlay, Deas, Ndaba, Armstrong, Kennedy, Watson, Lyons, Watkins, Vassell.

Substitutes: O'Hara, Wright, McKenzie, Sanders, Davies, Polworth, Warnock, Dallas, Mackay-Steven.

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St Mirren hope to have Conor McMenamin back after the forward missed Saturday's defeat away to Heart of Midlothian through illness, but full-back Ryan Strain remains out after groin surgery.

Kilmarnock are still without midfielder Kyle Magennis, who suffered a recurrence of a hamstring problem against Livingston last week.

Winger Matty Kennedy missed the win over St Johnstone with a knock, while midfielder Liam Donnelly and striker Innes Cameron are both returning to fitness from hamstring problems.

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• Five of the last seven Scottish Premiership matches between St Mirren and Kilmarnock have been drawn, with both sides winning once each in this time. This season’s first meeting between the two finished 1-1 in September.

• After their 2-0 win in April last season, Kilmarnock could win successive Scottish Premiership visits to St Mirren for the first time since March 2019.

• St Mirren are unbeaten in five home league games (W3 D2), keeping a clean sheet in four of those, including each of their last three in a row.

• Kilmarnock have kept a clean sheet in each of their last three Scottish Premiership away games (W1 D2), as many as their previous 19 on the road beforehand. It’s the first time that Killie have kept three successive away shutouts within a single top-flight season since October 2000.

• Kilmarnock’s Derek McInnes has lost just one of his 29 meetings with St Mirren in the Scottish top-flight (W12 D16), a 1-0 defeat with Aberdeen in August 2019.

Greg Kiltie stressed that his side can't "nosedive" as St Mirren look to address a poor run of form that has seen them win just three times in their last 14 games.

The Buddies started the season strongly and are yet to to drop into the bottom six this year, currently sitting fifth and just three points off third-placed Hearts.

“It’s important we don’t nosedive," Kiltie said. "We won a lot of games at the start of the season, but if you’re not going to be doing that, it’s important you keep picking points up along the way.

“It is important that we get back to winning ways. Our home form’s been pivotal not only this season but last season as well so we definitely need it."

Their run of fixtures before the break sees them travel to Pittodrie before hosting Celtic. When they return in January, they welcome Rangers to Paisley.

“We’ve got three hard games coming up so we need to take care of the Kilmarnock game and then see what happens after that," Kiltie said.

“We still want to do well before the break. You never know, if we get a few good results then suddenly we’re saying the winter break is not coming at a good time for us. It’s swings and roundabouts in this league.”

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St Mirren welcome Kilmarnock to the SMiSA Stadium, and could leapfrog their opponents with a win.

Would you make any changes to the team that lost 2-0 to Hearts?

Pick your starting XI here.

• St. Mirren have failed to win in their last 21 matches when conceding the opening goal in the Scottish Premiership dating back to 24th December 2022 against Aberdeen.

• St. Mirren conceded four goals in the last 15 minutes of the first half, only Kilmarnock (5) have conceded more in the Scottish Premiership this season.

• Scott Tanser won five fouls in this game, more than any other player on either team.

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

St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson: "I thought we pressed well in the first half. We won the ball back on numerous occasions. But our quality when we won it back...we refused to put the ball in the box which isn't us.

"We had chances to deliver and test them and we didn't, we went back around. Hearts didn't create anything, the keeper didn't have a shot to save in the first half but we concede from a set play from people not doing the job we've detailed for them to do.

That's really, really frustrating. The second goal is top class. That's what you get when you have Lawrence Shankland, when he's valued at what he's valued at, that's the difference between the two sides at times. But the other bits we didn't control as well as we could have.

"We've got forward players that we're wanting to stand up and say: 'I'm the main man.' We haven't had that yet, not for the want of trying. But we haven't had that type of quality.

"Overall I thought we won the ball back in good positions, but when we won it back we didn't hurt them, didn't penetrate and lacked the quality to do that."

Robinson adds it will be "tough" to do business in January unless players leave.

Thomas Duncan, BBC Sport Scotland

There was no shortage of endeavour from St Mirren, but they lacked quality. They flung in 27 crosses and had 11 shots, most of which came after going 2-0 down.

But there is no getting away from the fact their early season form has deserted them, particularly in front of goal. Stephen Robinson's side have scored just three times in eight matches, and two of those were own goals.

They have lost six in a row on the road, and in five of the last six they have failed to score. Robinson brought in Greive to partner Ayunga up front but the Kiwi struggled.

Their most threatening players were centre-back Richard Taylor, and Scott Tanser, who takes free kicks. That summed up their struggles. A big game against Kilmarnock is up next as St Mirren try to rediscover their best form.

St Mirren make just one change from the draw with Motherwell as Alex Greive replaces Stav Nahmani up front at Tynecastle.

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Hearts will be without Jorge Grant due to an ankle injury. Alex Lowry is back in contention after a back issue, while Stephen Kingsley is expected to be fit despite going off at half-time in last weekend’s win at Celtic. Calem Nieuwenhof could miss out again with a hand injury, while Liam Boyce (hamstring) and Cammy Devlin (ankle) remain sidelined.

Caolan Boyd-Munce, Ryan Flynn and Alex Greive will be assessed with various injuries but St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson hopes they will be available, while Connor McMenamin has been ill and he will be given time to prove his fitness. Ryan Strain remains out after groin surgery.

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