St Mirren

David Currie
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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Stephen Robinson has been speaking to the media before St Mirren visit Dundee United in the Premiership on Saturday.

Here are the key lines from the Buddies boss:

• Robinson tried to bring Toyosi Olusanya back to Paisley, but "we didn't have the funds to do what we wish" and the Houston Dynamo forward instead joined Aberdeen.

• Injured midfielders Keanu Baccus and Mark O'Hara are three or four weeks away from returning and Robinson says he'll have to do some "wheeling and dealing" to strengthen that position before the transfer window closes.

• He adds: "We've brought two strikers in so the board have backed that, which is great, and we need to find a way to either move people out or people that aren't happy not playing football, then create that yourself."

• He says the positivity is back at the club after a few weeks where "everyone was feeling a little bit sorry for themselves with the injuries". New arrivals have helped provide a "freshness" and Robinson is ready to give opportunities to players who have "trained particularly well".

• He says the acquisition of strikers Jake Young and Kion Etete, who will both be in the squad to face United, gives him options and creates competition up front where Mikael Mandron has been "playing constantly without a break".

• Young especially offers the ability to get in behind defences, a quality that the injured Jonah Ayunga offered.

• On United, Robinson says: "They always pose a challenge. I think Jim Goodwin's recruitment has been very good. United are a big club and they'll be hoping to get into the top six. We have to go there and get a result. We've done that in the past."

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Dundee United boss Jim Goodwin says St Mirren's current League Cup-winning hangover is reminiscent of when he captained the Buddies to glory in the same competition 13 year ago.

On Saturday United host Stephen Robinson's side, who have won only one of their seven league matches since defeating Celtic in the final last month.

Goodwin was captain of the Paisley side the previous time they lifted the cup before failing to win any of their following seven top-flight matches.

"I think it's difficult after the highs of winning the cup then to refocus and get back on to the league programme. I've seen that numerous times," said Goodwin.

"It actually happened to my own team back in 2013. We really struggled to get any momentum in the league after the cup final.

"Stephen Robinson has had lots of injuries to key players as well to contend with, but they've still got a very good, strong squad available to them. We will certainly be preparing for a very difficult fixture.

"They gave us a really difficult game in Paisley last time out and deserved to win the game and we need to make sure we don't have a similar type of performance on Saturday because we can't afford to be on the wrong end of the result."

United are five points off sixth-placed Falkirk after winning just two of their past 13 league games.

"We have to put a run of wins together, something that we haven't been able to do up to now," added Goodwin.

"We're going into that last block of 11 games now prior to the split and we have to start picking up maximum points on a consistent basis."

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• Alex Gogic, who scored St Mirren's equaliser against Livingston last time out, is set to make his 250th Scottish Premiership appearance (currently 249). He will be only the second non-British/Irish player - after Canada's David Wotherspoon (295) - to reach that figure since the top flight was rebranded to the Premiership in 2013-14.

• Dundee United have lost their past two league games without scoring, last losing three in a row without reply in the Premiership in December 2021 (run of four).

• St Mirren are winless in eight away league games (D2 L6) since beating Falkirk 2-1 in September. Only bottom side Livingston have fewer away points this season (four) than the Buddies (six, level with Dundee).

• After their 3-1 win in October, Dundee United are looking to beat St Mirren twice at home within a single Premiership campaign for the first time since 2013-14.

• St Mirren have won two of their past three league meetings with Dundee United (L1) after losing three in a row without scoring beforehand.

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No sooner had Oisin Smyth returned to St Mirren than he was away again.

Having been recalled from his Partick Thistle loan spell 10 days ago, the Northern Irish midfielder has now departed to Firhill for the remainder of the season.

During his short Buddies return, Smyth started the 2-0 defeat to Hearts and Scottish Cup win over Livingston then was an unused substitute in Tuesday night's 1-1 league draw in West Lothian.

The 25-year-old made 18 appearances for Thistle this season in his initial loan stint.

We asked for your thoughts after St Mirren came from behind to snatch a late 1-1 draw with Livingston in the Scottish Premiership.

Here's a taste of what you had to say:

Trevor: Talk about hot potato football. That was a horrendous watch, to me to you, it was like watching the Chuckle Brothers. The referee didn't help, blowing that whistle like a swimming lifeguard when anyone dare touch an opponent. Hopefully it's a platform for a win at Dundee United on Saturday.

JayDee: Alex Gogic reached superhero status at Livi. He can foul, pull his marker and score in under two seconds. Had the Livingston defence been marking, not blocking, they might have had his number.

Douglas S: Oh dear, we got out of jail. Too many players not coming up to the mark when we needed everyone to pull their weight. The new striker Jake Young looks good and should start on Saturday in place of Mikael Mandron, who looks as if he is struggling badly. Thank goodness we have Gogic.

Douglas M: There is much to debate about the outcome of this game but in overall terms, as the stats show, there was practically nothing between the teams. So a draw was a fair result in an overall scrappy, mistake-driven game that neither team deserved to win or lose. It says something about our current form that we will take a hard-fought point from the worst team in the league.

Kev: We all feel the manager's frustration on where the team that so convincingly won the League Cup has gone. The effort, belief and passion were missing until Gogic roused us out of the stupor we've been stuck in. I hope that was the spark we needed to get the performances I know we are capable of.

Peter: Always a struggle against Livingston, they kill the game at every opportunity. Our final 11 should be first picks on Saturday. Fantastic header from Goga to get the point.

Watch highlights as St Mirren's Alex Gogic scores a late equaliser to deny Livingston their first victory in the Scottish Premiership since early August.

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St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson: "It was great character from the boys, last 15 minutes we showed the energy that was missing from our game.

"It wasn't our best performance by any stretch of the imagination, but we played like St Mirren again, playing with a quality and an energy that got us the equaliser.

"I see light at the end of the tunnel now. We've got players coming in with energy, that gives us hope going forward."

Livingston moved to within three points of Kilmarnock at the foot of the Scottish Premiership but were denied their first victory in 22 games by Alex Gogic's late equaliser for St Mirren.

Have your say on the game here.

Read our match report here.

Andrew Christie
Fan writer

I've not seen One Battle After Another yet, so I don't actually know what it's about, but I'm comfortable assuming there's a section where someone has to go to Livingston twice in four days.

Saturday's battle was, broadly speaking, fine. Not good, not terrible - just football that happened.

We came out of it still alive in the Scottish Cup, which at this point feels like a moral victory. Roland Idowu scored after three minutes, Scott Arfield equalised eight minutes later, and then we all spent the next two hours suspended in that strange football purgatory where time passes but nothing meaningfully changes.

Penalties eventually arrived, we won them, we're through to play Airdrie in the last 16. Job done. Sort of.

Tonight's battle is something else entirely. Same ground. Same opposition. Same everything, really - except now it's League Away rather than Cup Away.

League Away is not a thing we enjoy. Seventy-two percent of our points have been collected at the SMISA Stadium. Away from Paisley, the story is markedly different: one win, two draws, seven defeats.

It's not a quirk or a coincidence or a small sample size. The moment we leave PA3, we become something different. Something daft.

Livingston are bottom with nine points and haven't won a league match in 18 attempts. We're 10th with 18 points and have lost four of our past five. Between us, the league table has been bookmarked on three different devices and is now checked more frequently than the weather, which is saying something given we live in Scotland.

The numbers are grim whichever way you look at them. They haven't won since August. We can't win away from home. They're desperate for anything that looks like momentum.

We're desperate not to get dragged into whatever this is. It's the kind of match where someone's season pivots - either theirs lurches back into life or ours slides noticeably closer to the drain.

Stephen Robinson will have learned everything he needs to know from Saturday. We know how they defend set-pieces, where the gaps are, which players cause problems.

Unfortunately, David Martindale now knows exactly the same about us. So tonight becomes this odd, tense, tactical stand-off where both managers can see the punches coming and it's just a matter of who lands theirs cleaner and who does something stupid first.

Win, and it's 11 points between us and bottom. Lose, and it's five. Livingston get their first league win since the start of August, and we're forced to confront the idea we might not actually be much better than the worst team in Scotland.

One battle after another, indeed.

Andrew Christie can be found at Misery Hunters, external

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• Livingston are winless in 19 league games (D6 L13), the longest run by any side in Scotland's top flight since Hamilton went 22 without victory from November 2010 to April 2011.

• St Mirren have lost their past four Scottish Premiership games, last losing more in a row in October 2020 (six). The Buddies have lost their past three without scoring, last losing more in succession without reply in the top flight in April 2015 (five).

• Livingston are the first side to win just one (or fewer) of their first 21 matches of a Scottish top-flight season since Dundee United in 2000-01 (also one win) – who managed to avoid relegation with an 11th-place finish that term, with St Mirren finishing 12th and being relegated.

• Livingston are unbeaten in four home games against St Mirren in the Scottish Premiership (W1 D3), and, after their 1-0 victory in February 2024, could win back-to-back home games over the Buddies for only the second time in the top flight after February 2020.

• St Mirren have only lost one of their past 14 Scottish Premiership games against Livingston (W7 D6), and after their 1-0 win in December, could beat the Lions successively in the competition for the first time since November 2020.

We asked for your views on St Mirren's win on penalties against Livingston to book their place in the last 16 of the Scottish Cup.

Here's what some of you said:

Michael: What a shambles. Stephen Robinson says the team let him down so what does he do? Chooses almost the same team less one. What do Evan Mooney and Malik Dijksteel have to do to start a game? Move! Mikael Mandron needs to be dropped. I said before the first sign of madness is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. When will he learn? Hope sooner rather than later, but I will not hold my breath. Time to clear out the deadwood and give others a chance.

Alistair: I would rather have a win against Livingston in the league to come, rather than a win in the Scottish Cup to be honest. The way St Mirren are playing at the moment, we should be concentrating and focusing energy on staying up and not getting relegated. If you go down it is very difficult to return to the Premiership.

Eddie: In the hat for next round, all that matters given our injuries.

Ian: We can't expect a team like St Mirren to have the ability to reach the top six season after season. It's nobody's fault. It's a very tight league with positions five and six always up for grabs between seven teams. Let's just enjoy what we have or risk losing a good manager.

Queen's Park have rejected a five-figure offer from French Ligue 2 club Amiens for 24-year-old striker Josh Fowler, who has also attracted interest from Aberdeen, St Mirren and an Irish club. (Daily Record), external

Read Sunday's Scottish Gossip in full.

St Mirren squeezed past fellow top-flight strugglers Livingston on penalty kicks to earn their first win in six matches and progress to the last 16 of the Scottish Cup.

Have your say on the game here.

Read our match report here.

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St Mirren have succeeded in their long-running pursuit of Jake Young, landing the striker from Stevenage on an 18-month contract.

Young, 24, enjoyed his most prolific career spell at Swindon Town, where he scored 16 goals in 26 appearances on loan from Bradford in 2023.

He moved to Stevenage the following year but has struggled for game-time, making just 17 starts and scoring five times.

"It's not often we get people with a history of goals," manager Stephen Robinson said. "He had a brilliant spell at Swindon where he scored a lot of goals.

"He's obviously not had as good a season this season. That's been our fortune that we've been able to get him.

"I've chased him for a number of weeks. He gives us an outlet in behind. He likes to play up front with somebody running off him.

"We've been desperately missing that clinical edge. He'll certainly add to that."

Young becomes the second signing of the January window at League Cup winners St Mirren after midfielder Allan Campbell.

"I've heard a lot about it here and the recent success the club has had so looking forward to getting started and showing the fans what I'm about," said the striker.

"I want to help us win some points and get us up the table. I'm looking forward to getting out there, finding my feet and getting some goals."

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Manager Stephen Robinson believes his "home truths" will spark a reaction from St Mirren in the crucial double-header with Livingston.

Robinson accused players of making him "look stupid" after losing to 10-man Hearts on Wednesday, the injury-ravaged Buddies' fourth straight defeat.

Struggling St Mirren visit Livingston in the Scottish Cup fourth round on Saturday then return to West Lothian on league duty three days later.

"There's different ways to approach football," Robinson said. "I've been very gentle because of the injury situation. There's reasons for our form at times. Some are our own fault, other things were out of our control.

"Sometimes you can cajole a performance out of people, sometimes put an arm around people. Wednesday night, we'd made really, really poor decisions for the goals. I think that was time to actually give them a shake another way.

"You only do that so often. We've done that. I want a reaction to it. I believe I'll get a reaction from it.

"The players, to be fair, have done that themselves. They had a reaction in the dressing room.

"There's still a long way to go in the season and that can turn around. We chose to do that by a few home truths."

Robinson has led Saints to three consecutive top-six finishes and the Premier Sports Cup trophy just last month, but he accepts they are now in a relegation battle.

"We've changed the norm, we've grown the expectations," he said. "These players and the staff, all of us have to accept that we're in a period that we're not happy with and we have to come out of it.

"We've had 10 goals disallowed in 16 games, which is incredible. Some are right, some are wrong, but they're all fine margins. They have gone against us. We've got key players out of the team at the minute.

"But we have got very good players still here. We have got players that should be higher up in the league, in my opinion, and we need to do basics right."

Robinson says cup victory over Livi can be a "driving force" in a Saints revival.

"We've seen what a cup win does for the football club, for everybody, for finances, for publicity for players. So that's another chance right at the start of it again to do it," he said.

Conor McMenamin is St Mirren's latest injury doubt after picking up a calf injury at Tynecastle, while Liam Donnelly is set to remain on the sidelines.

We asked for your thoughts after St Mirren were beaten 2-0 by 10-man Hearts at Tynecastle.

Here's a taste of what you had to say:

Andrew: I am not worried about relegation. The players are surely just playing badly to put Aberdeen off from taking Stephen Robinson, right?

Douglas: We have completely lost focus since the cup final victory over Celtic. It's almost as though the players have patted themselves on the back for a job well done, and assumed we will coast our way through the remainder of the league season and pick up lots of points as we go along. Well guys, it's wake-up time. You are lacking fight, creativity and the ability to put the ball into the net.

Trevor: Worst performance of the season so far, wait a minute that was last week. No wait. that was the week before and the week before that. We are rotten, no doubt about it and playing like a Championship team. Keep playing like that and that's where we will be.

Douglas S: Players look as if they have not played together before. Square passing instead of attacking the Hearts defence at speed. Mikael Mandron's time to go has arrived. No pace, can't jump and, on almost every occasion, he loses the ball. Time for Evan Mooney and Fraser Taylor to be used more often. Conor McMenamin contributes nothing.

Chris: Brutally honest from Robbo. Since the final the performances haven't been there, last night and Falkirk was shocking. I think we were terribly unlucky before the final and our points tally didn't match the performances. Players seem to have given up and the next match against Dundee is a must win. We need a spark but I'm not sure where it's going to come from. Some of the lads need to hang their head in shame.

Graham: If it hadn't been for Shamal George things would've been so much worse. There are players playing for the jersey but others aren't even turning up. Come on Saints, show some effort.

Watch all the highlights as Hearts beat St Mirren 2-0 in the Scottish Premiership despite playing the majority of the game with 10 men following Beni Baningime's red card. (Available to UK users only)