St Mirren

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St Mirren interim manager Craig McLeish: "I'm embarrassed. It's my responsibility, I'm leading the group. There's frustration, there's anger.

"It's the first day since I've taken over the group that I've been really disappointed in us. We were second best all over the pitch, we didn't show the fight and desire.

"We owe the fans an apology. We didn't fight. We've said some harsh truths in the dressing room. It's now out of our hands, we have to rely on results from others and take care of ours first and foremost.

"We had players on the pitch that weren't fighting and that's not acceptable.

"If you're not going to fight, you're not going to step foot on the pitch. I have to go with the players I can trust."

Kilmarnock boosted their hopes of Scottish Premiership survival with a vital victory over St Mirren, which eases them four points clear of their relegation rivals in the play-off spot with two games to play.

Read our match report

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St Mirren left-back Declan John will undergo hernia surgery next week while the Buddies remain without the suspended Alex Gogic plus injured Dan Nlundulu (thigh), Shamal George (ankle), Ryan Mullen (thigh), Jonah Ayunga (knee), Malik Dijksteel (groin) and Keanu Baccus (Achilles).

Killie goalkeeper Kelle Roos is back from a facial injury and will be assessed while Kieran Wright remains on loan from Rangers as back-up to Max Stryjek. Captain Brad Lyons has returned to training after missing the win over Dundee United, but Tyreece John-Jules (quad), Djenairo Daniels (knee) and Matty Kennedy (hip) are sidelined.

David Currie
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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Mikael Mandron picked up a League Cup winner's medal and scored twice in the Scottish Cup semi- final to force extra time against Celtic.

But the striker is adamant the match against Kilmarnock this weekend is St Mirren's biggest of the season.

The Buddies are in the relegation play-off spot, a point behind Killie, with three matches to go.

"I think there's no way to sugarcoat it, it's the most important game of the season," said striker Mandron.

"Even though we've got another two games after that, we understand the importance of that game and what it would mean for us to win.

"You can't go into it with nerves. It's a game that means a lot to us. When you prepare the way we prepare, you go into games with confidence and this is what we're going to do.

"The league has been challenging for us this season but tomorrow is an opportunity to take a big step towards safety. We have to look at the positive and the opportunity that game gives us."

Mandron has 21 goal contributions this season in all competitions - but only four of his 11 goals have been in the Premiership. In fact he has scored as many goals at Hampden in cup semi-finals as he has in the league.

"When you're a striker, you're always looking to score," the 31-year-old said.

"I've done quite well in the cups. My goal involvement tally overall is quite good this season. In the league less so. That's something I keep working on individually.

"We work on it as a team as well, trying to look at ways we can improve. There are three games left this season, that's three opportunities for me and the team to get goals."

Mandron's contract is up at the end this season, but he's parking any thoughts about his future until the relegation battle is over.

"That's not something I'm focused on at all at the minute. The season's not done. We're still playing for safety."

David Currie
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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St Mirren interim manager Craig McLeish has been talking to the media before Saturday's crucial Premiership match against Kilmarnock.

Here are the key points from his news conference:

• He says there is simply no getting away from the enormity of the game - a win would lift the Buddies out of the play-off spot and above Kilmarnock. "There's no downplaying it, there's no getting away from it, there's no second chances after this. Throughout the season in knockout competitions we've stepped up and we're trying to build it like that."

• St Mirren will only be trying to win: "You don't want to get to a situation where you're relying on other people and other results. The mentality is to win the game, like it has been for all of our games. The mentality will never be trying to make sure we just nick a point."

• McLeish believes performances have improved since he took interim charge, but says that doesn't matter if points don't follow. "The performances are really positive and that's great if we're talking pre-season here, but we're in an absolute dogfight - the only thing that matters right now is coming away with wins and putting points on the board."

• Despite St Mirren's precarious position, McLeish insists confidence is high in the squad. "We've had a really good week on the training pitch, the place has been really lively and there's still so much confidence within the group. They know we need our big players to step up in key moments."

• McLeish also addressed the Buddies' struggles in front of goal, having only scored 27 in 35 league matches. "I would be more worried if we weren't getting into good areas and creating chances. The work on the training pitch is focused on the final third as well, there's been a lot of finishing. That part of the pitch is about confidence more than anything, we're trying to replicate as many situations as we can, just trying to give them freedom and confidence, but that freedom and confidence hasn't really been there all season."

• Team news: Goalkeeper Shamal George and striker Dan Nlundulu are still unavailable, but "real leader" Marcus Fraser has declared himself fit. Still, McLeish is wary of rushing the defender back before he is ready. Liam Donnelly is hoping to train on Friday and could play a part, Declan John is booked in for a hernia operation next week, while Alex Gogic is suspended.

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• St Mirren have won just one of their past 14 Scottish Premiership games against Kilmarnock (D6 L7), winning 5-1 in March 2025.

• Kilmarnock have kept a clean sheet in five of their past seven Scottish Premiership visits to St Mirren, drawing 0-0 most recently in December.

• St Mirren have lost three successive league games and could lose four in a row for the second time this season, previously doing so across December/January.

• Although they are 10th in the overall table, Kilmarnock sit bottom of an away table in this season's Scottish Premiership, with just nine points (level with Livingston) and a goal difference of -24 (Livingston -20).

• St Mirren's Premiership games this season have featured the fewest goals of any side (78 – 27 for, 51 against). Indeed, the Buddies' 27 goals scored is at least eight fewer than anyone else.

David Currie
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

St Mirren have played and won one cup final this season and came close(ish) to reaching another.

Now they have three 'cup finals' left in the league - and five if things don't go to plan and they end up in a play-off for Premiership survival.

First up, Kilmarnock in Paisley. A must-win game according to St Mirren manager Craig McLeish and few would disagree.

With three rounds of matches to go the Buddies have the dubious distinction of being in the play-off spot.

Killie's 3-0 win over Dundee United and St Mirren's 1-0 defeat at Dens Park means the Buddies are clinging to the second-bottom rung of the top-flight ladder.

Pretty much a two-way battle to avoid the play-off now, wouldn't you say? So Saturday's meeting is huge.

Killie go into it in slightly better fettle. That win over United was their only victory in four since the start of April. Rattling in three against the Tangerines will do their confidence the world of good. Mind you, Killie are one of two clubs who've managed just one win on the road this season.

The fact the other is Livingston, who notched their only travelling triumph at the SMISA a couple of weeks ago, is cause for concern.

As is the Buddies' form. They haven't won since beating Aberdeen at the start of April, losing all three league matches without scoring.

Lack of goals (apart from in cup competitions) has been the bugbear all season. They've only netted 27 times, that's 12 fewer than relegated Livingston and 14 fewer than Killie.

Defender Miguel Freckleton is joint top league scorer with Mika Mandron on just four goals. The big man scored seven in the league last season, one behind Toyosi Olusanya who left a year ago.

So he has three games in which to equal or surpass last season's haul. It might also go some way to help keep the Buddies in the Premiership (no pressure then).

Worth pointing out that Mandron has scored seven in cup competitions this season - maybe it's a good job then that there are three cup finals to go.

Nick McPheat
BBC Sport Scotland

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On loan at St Mirren from Belgian club Sint-Truiden for the second half of the 2018-19 season, Duckens Nazon "had a story" in Scotland.

It was short-lived, though.

The forward, Haiti's record scorer, is hoping to stun the nation he once called home when the sides meet in Boston at the 2026 World Cup.

Nazon played 12 games for St Mirren, scoring twice, but said he was "not ready for this kind of aggression and fight" in Scottish football.

The weather also played its part.

"I remember one game we had sun, snow and rain," he recalled on the BBC's Sacked in the Morning podcast. "After this, I was like, OK, I'm done."

Weather is unlikely to be an issue for Nazon this summer in North America. The striker, a friend of Scotland defender Dominic Hyam - with whom he played at Coventry - did, however, voice concerns about inflated ticket prices for the upcoming World Cup matches.

"There is only one thing that starts to go in my brain - it's the ticket prices," he says. "Hopefully this is not going to affect the crowd and people coming to the stadium, because we want this atmosphere.

"We want this energy around us. I'm looking forward to seeing Scottish people and Haitian people in the stadiums. This is going to be important."

Nazon also detailed his recent evacuation from Iran, where he plays his club football for Esteghlal, saying he watched bombs drop from just 100 metres away and that his life was saved by a SIM card.

Listen to his guest appearance on Sacked in the Morning in full and read more about a turbulent time in the 32-year-old's life.

Andrew Christie
Fan writer

Football's funny, isn't it? Not 'haha' funny. More like a sort of 'these post-match pints are starting to taste like tweeting opinions' funny.

St Mirren have slipped down into the relegation play-off spot. Twenty-seven league goals in thirty-five games, the lowest in the division, is the number that has brought us here more than any other.

We've suffered three consecutive league defeats - Celtic away, Livingston at home, Saturday's 1-0 defeat at Dundee.

Kilmarnock, who beat Dundee United 3-0 on Saturday, are now one point above us. They come to Paisley on Saturday, and if we thought this game was big before, it's now become comically so.

See? Funny.

The 1-0 defeat at Dens Park on Saturday had the complexion of a fair few others we've experienced this season.

We lost possession cheaply in our own half on twelve minutes, Cameron Congreve had the space to cross from the right, and Joe Westley prodded it in off the post.

For the next 78 minutes St Mirren had most of the ball without really troubling the Dundee goal. It's now 17 league games without scoring this season. 27 goals in 35 games. Relegated Livingston scored 39.

The tactical question is genuinely complicated. The best football we have played this season has come in a back three under Craig McLeish.

A back four - very clearly the interim boss' preference - demands a different kind of defensive organisation. The higher the wide defenders push, the more exposed the central pairing becomes (see Livingston's first goal. See Dundee's. See my phone being launched into orbit.). The distances between the lines become harder to manage without the right personnel.

At Dundee on Saturday the shape was altered out of necessity rather than design, with nine first-team players unavailable and a bench so depleted it featured players who would criticise me for not knowing who Clavicular is.

Whether a makeshift back three with Scott Tanser, Declan John or even Mark O'Hara filling in centrally would offer more stability than the back four, or whether the unfamiliarity of those players in those roles would create its own vulnerabilities, is the question McLeish has been sitting with. There is no clear answer.

Liam Donnelly may be available for Saturday. Shamal George is 50-50. Marcus Fraser came on at Dens being followed by a doctor with a big comedy net. Whatever XI McLeish puts out, it needs to score, because two league games without a goal against Livingston and Dundee has put us here. Kilmarnock on Saturday will demand something we have not produced in weeks.

Win and our Premiership status becomes more tangible. The season still has a good ending available to it.

Andrew Christie can be found at Misery Hunters, external

Watch the Sportscene panel discuss the magnitude of next weekend's encounter between St Mirren and Kilmarnock.

Read more: Play-off pressure piles up for St Mirren v Kilmarnock

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Watch the best of the action as Dundee boost their bid to avoid the relegation play-off with a 1-0 win over St Mirren, who drop to 11th. Available to UK users only.

St Mirren fans, we asked for your opinions on the 1-0 loss to Dundee at Dens Park. Here's a taste of what you had to say...

Eddie: Very worrying. We have a novice at the helm and it's starting to show!

Michael: A team devoid of goals or fight. A temporary manager who lacks inspiration or strategy and is completely lost at this level. A board who clearly lack ambition and would be better suited to another sport.

A club that's on it's knees and heading for a lower league unless everyone steps up and, based upon recent performances, that is clearly not going to happen!

A lot of these players are playing in a league well above their actual skillset and are stealing an income under false pretences. I genuinely hope for a result next week but pray for a miracle.

John: Dreadful game of football. Saints have no cutting edge at all. Absolutely no chance of us beating Killie next week. We are definitely play-off bound, and with so many injuries I fear the worst.

A lot of the players need to take a look at themselves. Can't help feeling that there is already a few of them looking to their agents getting them out of the club rather than fight for the cause.

Robert: Same issue which has plagued the team all season, lack of goals! 27 goals in 35 league games is why we are where we are. The Kilmarnock game in Paisley next week is possibly the biggest game of our season. Never thought that would be possible after the Cup final in December but staying in the Premiership has to be the priority for our club every season.

Eddie: It's been a depressing season, however, even if we end up on the play-offs I think we have enough to beat any of the Championship sides who qualify to play us. It's what we have deserved.

Douglas: Absolutely not good enough to say the least. Craig McLeish seems to be out of his depth and not able to change systems, bringing on subs far too late. Mikael Mandron has to go. His work rate is appalling, he can't jump and is so slow. No wonder we are lowest scorers in the league.

Playing out from the back does not suit the players and all the square and backward passes do nothing. If we go one behind we won't score, as has been proved many times before.

St Mirren have dropped to second bottom spot in the Scottish Premiership after a 1-0 defeat by Dundee in Dens Park.

Kilmarnock have jumped above after their win over Dundee United, setting up a showdown in Paisley next Saturday.

Read the match report.

Let us know your thoughts.

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St Mirren interim manager Craig McLeish suggests a lack of goals has been his side's problem all season and haunted them again in their 1-0 defeat by Dundee at Dens Park.

"Another sore result," he told BBC Scotland. "I don't think we will have come here often and dominated so much of the game.

"It is sore for the boys. The boys have given everything.

"There are bodies hanging together there. There are bodies playing with pain and injuries and people playing when they probably shouldn't be playing.

"I can't ask any more of them. It is the bit in the final third that we've been searching for all season and we're still searching for it - and that's the bit that can make the difference. The way we are playing probably deserves more from what we are taking.

"Next game [at home to Kilmarnock] was always going to be massive. We have to win now. We are up for the fight."

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Dundee have a doubt over Scott Wright while Clark Robertson (thigh) is likely to remain sidelined.

Marcus Fraser has declared himself available for St Mirren six weeks after shoulder surgery and Liam Donnelly returns.

Saints have lost Jonah Ayunga to a serious knee injury, while Dan Nlundulu remains out along with goalkeepers Ryan Mullen (thigh) and Shamal George (ankle), winger Malik Dijksteel (groin) and midfielder Keanu Baccus.

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Marcus Fraser is set to ignore doctor's advice and rush back from injury in an effort to help St Mirren's survival battle.

The defender's season appeared to be over after he suffered a dislocated shoulder and then underwent surgery in mid-March, but interim manager Craig McLeish revealed the 31-year-old has made himself available to face Dundee on Saturday.

The Buddies are just two points above second-bottom Kilmarnock with four games to go, starting at Dens Park.

"We just need to be careful with him because he's not at the bit yet where the specialist is happy with how his injury's properly healed," McLeish said.

"He's probably a couple of weeks away for that. The type of boy Marcus is, he's made himself available for selection and he's happy to take part and contribute.

"We can't have enough people like that around the building. It's a fantastic attitude. He's a big personality around the place, he's a big part of our group.

"He's been training now for maybe two weeks, where we've had to be careful with him and be non-contact.

"He's seen the specialist and, I don't mind saying this, he's been advised not to play for the rest of the season, but he's happy to be involved and take a little bit of that risk on as well.

"That's now up to me to balance that, but just his attitude and his willingness to be there and fight with us, that has to spread around the group as well."

Fraser's potential return comes after Jonah Ayunga suffered cruciate ligament damage for the second time in his St Mirren career, and his second major injury of the season, with his contract set to expire.

"We all feel for him," McLeish said. "He's been through it before. It's his other knee this time but it's the same injury, so it's like a double-edged sword.

"He knows that he can come back from it and he can come back strong, but he also knows what he now faces, a lengthy time out and frustrating periods through rehab."

St Mirren remain without goalkeeper Shamal George, which means loan signing Ross Sinclair will continue in the team at Dens Park.

The 24-year-old is determined to seize his unexpected opportunity after sitting on the bench throughout St Johnstone's Championship title-winning season and with his contract due to expire.

Sinclair said: "It gives me an opportunity to play games to hopefully show people what I can do and then we can take my career from there.

"Hopefully, something comes at St Johnstone but if something doesn't come at St Johnstone then hopefully it puts me in the shop window, worst case scenario. I will just focus on the job I need to do here at St Mirren."

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Former St Mirren striker Rory Loy thinks losing at home to bottom side Livingston has knocked the Buddies' confidence heading into the final four games.

Livingston had only won one game this season, back in August, before they triumphed 2-0 in Paisley last weekend thanks to an Alex Gogic own goal and Scott Pittman's late strike.

Given that Kilmarnock lost at Aberdeen, St Mirren remain two points above the Rugby Park side in the relegation play-off spot as they prepare for Saturday's game at Dundee.

But Loy believes the loss to Livi is a worrying sign for Craig McLeish's injury-hit side.

"This is going to sound disrespectful to Livingston, and I don't mean it this way, but they hadn't won a game since August," he told the BBC's Scottish Football Podcast.

"You don't want to be the team that loses to Livingston.

"Everyone's looking to see who they'll beat, who they'll finally get that win against, and that's not to say they haven't deserved a few wins along the way between August and now, but everyone looks at it and thinks who's going to be the team [that loses].

"Not only that, it was at home as well. St Mirren's foundations have been built with good home form over the last few seasons.

"Going to Paisley, has been notoriously difficult over the last three years. They've taken points off Rangers, Celtic, Hibs, Hearts, you name it.

"So to lose to Livingston at home in such a precarious position already was damaging. Alarm bells will be ringing if they get beat this weekend."

David Currie
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

So St Mirren have extended the emergency loan of St Johnstone goalkeeper Ross Sinclair. Good. Shamal George is still recovering from an ankle injury and Ryan Mullen is out for the foreseeable.

Now, if only there was provision to bring in crisis cover for Alex Gogic. The Cypriot force of nature is out for half of the Buddies' remaining fixtures as they battle relegation.

Goga picked up his 14th yellow card of the season in the home defeat by Livingston and will be absent then for the matches away to Dundee and at home to Kilmarnock. He will be missed.

So will League Cup final hero Jonah Ayunga, who was carried off on a stretcher in the same game with an ACL injury and is out long term.

While we're at it, the man who opened the scoring in the League Cup final win over Celtic - Marcus Fraser - is also out for the remainder of the campaign. Australia international Keanu Baccus won't be seen again this term either.

Slings and arrows of outrageous fortune over which interim manager Craig McLeish had no control. If he can keep St Mirren in the Premiership under such circumstances you'd have to say he'd deserve a crack at the gig in the longer term.

Even though there was no European football for St Mirren this season, with two cup runs it's been a marathon and it could be said St Mirren are running out of puff – or at least personnel.

The perils of running with a smallish squad through financial necessity I guess.

But let's not dwell on the negative. The sun is shining, the birds are singing and St Mirren still have a two-point lead over Kilmarnock and superior goal difference.

Plus, a win over Dundee by a margin of two goals will lift the Buddies into the sunny uplands of ninth place, setting things up nicely for the visit of Kilmarnock a week on Saturday.

See Killie off then and Premiership survival will be in sight.

It could happen. St Mirren are enjoying more possession and creating more chances (17 shots at goal against Livingston) so maybe they just need a fortunate bounce of the ball, or a kindly VAR intervention here and there. But every club in the mire is hoping for the same.

There's no doubt the Paisley side are 'circling the drain', but even if St Mirren do get sucked down the Premiership plughole, Buddies will always have 14 December and the League Cup final to look back on. So even if the worst happens the season won't have been a complete washout.

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• Only Motherwell's Ibrahim Said (38) has created more chances without yet providing an assist in the Scottish Premiership this season than Dundee's Yan Dhanda (35).

• Dundee have won their past two Scottish Premiership home games against St Mirren, as many as their previous 10 against the Buddies in the top flight beforehand (W2 D3 L5).

• St Mirren have only won one of their past six league meetings with Dundee (D2 L3), a 1-0 victory in September this season.

• Dundee have lost three of their past four league games (D1), as many as their previous 12 beforehand (W5 D4 L3).

• Over their past 10 Scottish Premiership matches, St Mirren have picked up just seven points (W2 D1 L7), the fewest of any side in the competition.

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Goalkeeper Ross Sinclair will remain at St Mirren on another seven-day emergency loan from St Johnstone.

The 24-year-old joined last week and started in the Buddies' 2-0 defeat to Livingston.

It was the goalkeeper's first appearance since May 2025 when St Johnstone were last in the Scottish Premiership.

St Mirrren's first-choice keeper Shamal George remains on the sidelines while back-up Ryan Mullen is out for at least three months with a thigh tear sustained in the Scottish Cup semi-final loss to Celtic.

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St Mirren have confirmed forward Jonah Ayunga suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury during last Saturday's defeat to Livingston.

The 28-year-old Kenya international was taken off on a stretcher in the second half of the 2-0 loss.

"Jonah ruptured the ACL in his right knee," said the club.

"The 28-year-old will undergo surgery in the coming weeks and he will have our full support.

"Everyone at St Mirren wishes Jonah the very best in his recovery."

Ayunga, who is out of contract at the end of the season, previously ruptured his ACL in January 2023, spending 10 months on the sidelines.

He joined the Paisley club four years ago and was a Hampden hero in this season's League Cup final, netting a double in the 3-1 win over Celtic.