Stephen Robinson gives his reaction to our win against St Johnstone.

The boys showed a real calmness about them and thoroughly deserved the win."

St Mirren picked up an important three points after winning at McDiarmid Park for the first time since 2014.

Greg Kiltie's second-half goal was enough to give the Paisley Saints a 1-0 win and move Stephen Robinson's side eight points clear of St Johnstone in the cinch Premiership.

The manager made three changes from the side that lost to Hibernian last weekend with Alex Gogic, Kiltie and Alex Greive coming in for Alan Power, Ethan Erhahon and Eamonn Brophy. 

The Buddies almost got off to the perfect start with just 30 seconds on the clock. Greive darted beyond two St Johnstone defenders as he burst into the box and forced a big save from Zander Clark who got a strong hand to the New Zealand forward's strike. 

It was a positive opening from Stephen Robinson's side with Greg Kiltie seeing an effort blocked on five minutes before Alex Gogic's long-range hit whistled inches by the post with Clark at full stretch. 

After a bright start the hosts began to see more of the ball and they had their first good chance of the game on 22 minutes. A blocked Callum Booth effort fell to Callum Hendry who twisted and turned by two St Mirren defenders to get his shot away but dragged wide from a good area. 

St Mirren got the winner less than 10 minutes into the second-half when Kiltie scored his fifth goal of the season. The midfielder was in the right place to meet a Greive cut-back and he scooped into the far corner of the net to put Saints ahead.

Greg Kiltie scores the winner for the Saints

The Buddies never really looked threatened throughout the contest with the home side having no shots on target in the 90 minutes. 

And while the focus is on finishing as high as possible in the league, today's win almost ensures St Mirren's status in the cinch Premiership next season with an eight point gap on the relegation play-off spot and only nine points still to play for. 

Full-Time: St Johnstone 0-1 St Mirren

St Mirren: Alnwick, Fraser, Shaughnessy (c), McCarthy, Tait, Ronan, Gogic, Tanser, Kiltie (Flynn 82), Main, Greive (Brophy 90)
Subs Not Used: Lyness, Smyth, Erhahon, Henderson, Jones

St Johnstone: Clark, Rooney, Gordon, McCart, Booth, Davidson (May 75), Hallberg, Hendry, Crawford (MacPherson 59), Ciftci (Bair 75), Sang (Middleton 59)
Subs Not Used: Parish, Mahon, Brown, Cleary, Butterfield

Referee: Andrew Dallas
Assistant Referee: Ross Macleod
Assistant Referee: Gary Hilland
Fourth Official: Colin Steven

Stephen Robinson confirmed that Eamonn Brophy and Richard Tait could be available for tomorrow’s cinch Premiership match against St Johnstone.

The pair had to be substituted during last weekend’s defeat against Hibernian after picking up injuries. Both received x-rays, but thankfully neither had broken their foot.

Speaking to the press this afternoon the manager confirmed that both have trained this morning and he is hopeful they could be be available for selection.

Today they trained for the first time, tentatively," he said.

"They will be involved tomorrow but whether we start them or not we'll give them another 24 hours and have a look at them.

"It's good news that it's not broken. It's just heavy bruising for both of them."

Please note that the stadium offices, ticket office and club shop will be closed this coming Monday (2nd May). 

The stadium, ticket office and club shop will all be open as usual on Tuesday.

Tickets for tomorrow's match against St Johnstone are on-sale online. Ticket information is available HERE and tickets can be purchased HERE. 

St Johnstone have also asked us to make supporters travelling by supporters bus aware of the arrangements for access on Saturday. This can be seen below. 

Jak Alnwick praised the travelling Saints support this season and called on them to turn up in their numbers this weekend ahead of St Mirren's cinch Premiership clash with St Johnstone.

The away support has been amazing. We fully need them behind us this weekend."

St Mirren travel to Perth on Saturday to face St Johnstone in the cinch Premiership.

Stephen Robinson's side sit in 10th place in the cinch Premiership - five points above the Perth Saints. 

The Buddies have won one and lost four of their last five cinch Premiership matches with the solitary win away to Dundee last month. 

St Johnstone have won two, drawn two and lost one of their last five. Callum Davidson's men defeated Motherwell (2-1) and Livingston (1-0), while drawing with Hibernian (0-0) and Dundee (1-1). Their only loss in those five was a 7-0 defeat to Celtic at Celtic Park in March. 

Match Details

St Johnstone v St Mirren
Competition: cinch Premiership
Date: Saturday 30th April 2022
Kick-off: 3pm
Venue: McDiarmid Park, Perth

Match Info

Tickets for Saturday's match are only available through St Johnstone's ticket website. Ticket information is available HERE and tickets can be purchased HERE. 

PPV is available on St Johnstone's PPV platform at £17.50.

Previous

St Mirren are undefeated against St Johnstone this season with one win and two draws from three meetings this campaign.

Alex Greive scored his first St Mirren goal in a 2-1 win over the Perth Saints at the SMiSA Stadium in February. Callum Hendry had put the visitors in front but goals from Connor Ronan and Greive either side of half-time gave the Buddies the three points. 

The first two meetings finished goalless at both the SMiSA Stadium and McDiarmid Park. 

The Buddies last win at McDiarmid Park was in 2014 when Jason Naismith and Adam Drury scored in a 2-1 win. 

Alex Greive scores his first St Mirren goal - and the winner - the last time the Saints faced St Johnstone (Image: Allan Picken)

The officials

Andrew Dallas takes charge of Saturday's match. Ross Macleod and Gary Hilland are the linesmen and Colin Steven is fourth official. 

Joe Shaughnessy admits Saturday’s defeat to Hibernian was a sickener, but says Saints have to pick themselves up for a big game this weekend.

The Buddies travel to McDiarmid Park on Saturday to face St Johnstone with the Perth outift sitting five points behind Stephen Robinson’s side in the cinch Premiership.

Shaughnessy is aware of the importance of Saturday’s match and insists there's enough know-how in the squad to deal with games like this. 

It was sickening to lose it like that,” he told stmirren.com after the match.

"We defended pretty well for the whole game and limited them to not many chances.

"It’s annoying because they didn’t have much else in the second half in the whole game, really.

"Scott Tanser’s shot at the end just comes off the bar, if it’s three or four inches lower, it’s probably going to go bouncing in and just little things like that not falling for us at the minute, but it’s important just to keep going with a big game this weekend.

"The good thing is there’s plenty of experience in the squad," he continued.

"A lot of us have been in situations like this before, so it’s just a case of trying not to not to get too down and stick together and just make sure we work hard for the weekend."

St Mirren travel to Perth on Saturday for a huge cinch Premiership match against St Johnstone.

Tickets for Saturday's match are only available through St Johnstone's ticket website and they can be purchased HERE. 

St Johnstone v St Mirren
cinch Premiership
Venue: McDiarmid Park, Perth
Date: Saturday 30th April
Kick-Off: 3pm

The ticket prices are as follows:

Adult - £24
Family Adult* - £17 
Concession** - £14
U12*** - £0

* - One adult with maximum two under 12s
** - Over 65 and U20s
*** - No admission without adult 

Please note: For the £17 family deal, all ticket holders must enter via turnstile five which will be monitored by stewards – strictly one adult and maximum two U12s only. 

Ambulant Disabled Adult* - £24
Ambulant Disabled Concession* - £14
PA** - £0

* - Must be in receipt of PIP/DLA 
** No admission without ambulant disabled supporter

We have received 15 wheelchair and carer tickets for this match and wheelchair users should contact the St Mirren Ticket Office to buy.

There's still a lot of belief in that dressing room. There's a lot of characters who will scrap and fight for this club until the last four games."

The manager gives his post-match reaction following Saints' cinch Premiership defeat at home to Hibernian.