The manager gives his thoughts on today's 2-1 loss to Livingston in the Ladbrokes Premiership.

Saints are on their travels on Saturday as Jim Goodwin's side head to The Tony Macaroni Arena to take on Livingston.

FORM

The Buddies currently sit in 8th place in the Ladbrokes Premiership having picked up three points from our opening three matches.

A narrow 1-0 loss away to Hibernian on the opening day was followed up by a deserved 1-0 win over Aberdeen at the Simple Digital Arena.

Ilkay Durmus' early goal sealed the three points and capped off a strong performance for Jim Goodwin's men against the Dons.

Saints were edged out 1-0 at home by Rangers last weekend with Borna Barisic's second-half free-kick the difference between the two sides.

Livingston are off to an unbeaten start this season having qualified from their Betfred Cup group with three wins and a draw. They began their league season with a 0-0 draw at home to Motherwell, before drawing 2-2 away to St Johnstone. 

They come into tomorrow's match on the back of a mightily impressive 4-1 win away to Ross County last weekend.

PREVIOUS

The two sides came up against each other four times last season with both teams winning two games apiece. 

Livingston were victorious in the first two clashes last season - winning 2-0 at the Simple Digital Arena in August, before winning 3-1 at the Tony Macaroni Arena in December.

A last-gasp goal from Ryan Flynn gave Saints all three points when Livingston came in Paisley on a rainy February day.

The final meeting between the two sides was in April in the first match of the Ladbrokes Premiership split last season. Livingston were reduced to 10 men but took the lead through Scott Robinson. Saints rallied, however, and equalised quickly when Paul McGinn scored. Late goals from Danny Mullen and Simeon Jackson gave the Buddies a vital 3-1 win. 

TEAM NEWS

Cody Cooke remains sidelined with a long-term injury, but everyone else is available for selection for Saints.

MANAGER'S THOUGHTS

"Livingston are very well-organised. They are a hard-working team and very physical at times. 

"They are a better team than most people give them credit for. We know that they have players in their team that can hurt you.

"The players have shown they are willing to dig in and fight & scrap for every ball.

"The easy part of football is setting a team up to be hard to beat. The hard part as a manager is to try and impose your own game on the opposition and that's what we have to try and do tomorrow."

 * Over-65s, 16-18, registered disabled and full-time students with valid ID
** Under-16

Tickets for this match are now on sale from the St Mirren Ticket Office.

There are only seven wheelchair and carer tickets available and these can be purchased either over the phone or by attending the Ticket Office in person. Wheelchair users will be charged the regular match price for their age and a carer ticket will be provided free of charge.

Any tickets purchased from the St Mirren Ticket Office must be picked up by 2:00pm on Friday 30th August.

There will be no cash turnstiles in operation on the day, however, tickets will be available to purchase from the away ticket office at the Tony Macaroni Arena prior to kick-off.

St Mirren Ticket Office Phone No: (0141) 840-6130.
St Mirren Ticket Office E-Mail: tickets@stmirren.com.

Additional Information for Travelling Fans
On Saturday (31st August), St Mirren make the trip to West Lothian to face Livingston in a Ladbrokes Premiership match-up at the Tony Macaroni Arena.

The referee on Saturday is Colin Steven and he will be assisted by David McGeachie and Jordan Stokoe. The Fourth Official will be Don Robertson.

St Mirren suffered a narrow loss at home to Rangers on Sunday after a second-half free-kick from Borna Barisic gave the visitors a win over a well drilled Saints side.

The Buddies made life difficult for the Ibrox side and it took a moment of magic from Croatian defender Barisic to separate the side. 

Jim Goodwin stuck with the same starting 11 that defeated Aberdeen two weeks previously. Ilkay Durmus' early strike against the Dons was all that separated the two sides that afternoon, but it was Rangers who could have struck early during Sunday's contest. Experienced forward Jermain Defoe beat the offside trap to find himself one-on-one with Vaclav Hladky but somehow stuck it wide from just a few yards out. 

That early scare aside Saints started fairly well. Tony Andreu may have feel he could have done better on 10 minutes when he nipped in ahead of a Rangers midfielder to open up a bit of space but took the shot early and fired well over. Durmus 

The closest either side came in the opening half hour was on 29 minutes when Jon Obika's cross-cum-shot had Allan McGregor beaten all ends up but cracked off the bar.  Two minutes after that chance, Ryan Jack's strike from the edge of the area for the visitors was deflected just by the post. A few minutes later, Hladky made a terrific instinctual save to deny Scott Arfield the opener. 

Obika was adamant he should have had a penalty on 42 minutes when he went to ground under the challenge of Rangers defender Filip Helander. The striker looked to have outmuscled the Swedish defender who then hauled down Obika after clipping his own feet, but referee Kevin Clancy deemed that the forward had brought Helander down and awarded Rangers a free-kick.

The visitors started the second half strongly with Joe Aribo nodded just by the post inside the first minute from a James Tavernier corner before Hladky did well to deny Glen Kamara from a tight angle after the midfielder had been slipped in by Defoe. Hladky made another good stop to turn a Jack attempt round the post on 55 minutes.

Rangers pressure would pay off just before the hour mark as Barisic gave them the lead with a free-kick from 25 yards after Calum Waters fouled Defoe. It was a bit of a contentious decision with Saints believing Sam Foley had been fouled in the build up. Nonetheless, Rangers were awarded the set-piece and there was nothing Hladky could do to stop Croatian international Barisic's effort which was curled into the top right corner. 

The game seemed to peter out in the final 30 minutes, but Saints did have chances with just five minutes remaining to haul themselves level. Paul McGinn headed over from a corner on 86 minutes, while debutant Junior Morias could have made it a dream first appearance for the Buddies when he was picked out inside the box by Kyle McAllister, only for the striker to flick into the arms of Rangers goalkeeper Allan McGregor from close range.

Full-Time: St Mirren 0-1 Rangers

St Mirren: Hladky, P.McGinn, McLoughlin, MacKenzie, Waters, Flynn, Foley, Magennis, Andreu (Mullen 84), Durmus (McAllister 45), Obika (Morias 66)
Subs Not Used: Lyness, Baird, MacPherson, Djorkaeff

Aberdeen: McGregor, Tavernier, Goldson, Helander, Barisic, Jack, Kamara, Aribo, Arfield (King 84), Jones (Davis 67), Defoe (Morelos 75)
Subs Not Used: Foderingham, Edmundson, Halliday, Hastie

Referee: Kevin Clancy
Assistant Referee: David Roome
Assistant Referee: Calum Spence
Fourth Official: Alan Newlands

Attendance: 7,232

Gallery pictures by Allan Picken © - Allan Picken Photography

The St Mirren Fans Council are hosting a St Mirren themed race night on Friday 13th September in the 1877 Supporters Club at the Simple Digital Arena with the tape going up at 7.30pm.

Tickets are priced at only £8 per person (over 18’s only) and include a delicious finger buffet and disco after the racing.

Tickets can be purchased now from the stadium reception or by contacting colin.bright@stmirren.com. 

All profits from the night will help towards funding St Mirren related projects - current sponsorship includes the Panda club and family match day entertainment.

An event by the fans for the fans!

St Mirren supporters are now able to purchase tickets for Saturday's match through Livingston's ticketing website. 

Supporters can choose a seat in Section L of the Nordan East Stand and can have a digital ticket, which can be on their phone or printed at home or choose to have them posted.

The Buddies travel to West Lothian to face Gary Holt's side at the Tony Macaroni Arena in our first match following the league split.

The match and tickets info is as follows:

Livingston vs St Mirren
Ladbrokes Premiership
Venue: Tony Macaroni Arena, Livingston
Date: Saturday 31st August 2019
Kick-off: 3:00pm

Prices

Adult - £25
Concessions* - £17
Juniors** - £10

*over-65s, 16-18, registered disabled and full-time students with valid ID
** Under-16

St Mirren Ticket Office Tel: (0141) 840-6130.

St Mirren Ticket Office E-Mail: tickets@stmirren.com.

Supporters Direct Scotland has launched its Scottish Football Supporters Survey for season 2019/20 and encourages St Mirren supporters to take part to help Scottish Football score a golden future.

Officially recognised as the lead supporters’ group in Scotland by the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and the Scottish Football Association (Scottish FA), Supporters Direct Scotland has established a formal means to engage with the game’s key decision makers and represent fans’ views.

Last year's survey helped to drive change, focussing on the three big themes of "Value For Money", "Fan Engagement" and "The Supporter Experience". These priorities are shared by supporters, clubs, and the Scottish FA and SPFL, and we have already seen progress in each of these areas. Progress and improvement will be tracked and supported by the three partner organisations, with this survey forming an integral part of a three-year benchmarking study which began last season.

You can read more about the results of the 2018/19 survey by visiting www.scottishsupporters.net.

This year’s findings will be reviewed by Supporters’ Direct Scotland, SPFL, the Scottish FA and communicated to all SPFL clubs together with insights for further improvement.

You can participate in the survey by clicking this link.

This season’s survey will run for three weeks closing on Sunday 15th September.

Tickets are on-sale for the Scotland U21s match against San Marino at the Simple Digital Arena on 5th September.

Prices are £5 for adults and £2 for concessions. The Scottish FA are also running a group offer allowing four adults and up to 16 under-16s entry for £26.

St Mirren's Kyle Magennis and Kyle McAllister have been called up by Scot Gemmill for the UEFA European Championship qualifiers and could be involved in the match at Paisley.

The match details are as follows:

Scotland v San Marino
Venue: The Simple Digital Arena, Paisley
Date: Thursday 5th September
Kick-off: 7:30pm

Tickets are on-sale at the ticket office and online for our trip to face Livingston at the Tony Macaroni Arena this Saturday.

The match and tickets info is as follows:

Livingston vs St Mirren
Ladbrokes Premiership
Venue: The Tony Macaroni Arena, Livingston
Date: Saturday 31st August 2019
Kick-off: 3:00pm

Prices

Adult - £25
Concessions* - £17
Juniors** - £10

*over-65s, 16-18, registered disabled and full-time students with valid ID
** Under-16

There are only seven wheelchair and carer tickets available and these can be purchased either over the phone or by attending the Ticket Office in person. Wheelchair users will be charged the regular match price for their age and a carer ticket will be provided free of charge.

Any tickets purchased from the St Mirren ticket office must be picked up by 2pm on Friday 30th August. 

Tickets are also on-sale for our home match against Hamilton Academical on September 21st. These can be purchase at the ticket office or online.

The Ticket Office hours for the remainder of the week are as follows:

Tue, Aug 27th - 10:00am - 2:00pm
Wed, Aug 28th - 10:00am - 2:00pm
Thu, Aug 29th - 10:00am - 2:00pm and 5:00pm - 7:00pm
Fri, Aug 30th - 10:00am - 2:00pm
Sat, Aug 31st - CLOSED
Sun, Sep 1st - CLOSED

St Mirren Ticket Office Tel: (0141) 840-6130.

St Mirren Ticket Office E-Mail: tickets@stmirren.com.

Jim Goodwin gives his reaction to this afternoon's narrow loss against Rangers at the Simple Digital Arena.