St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson expecting tough task against Ayr United in 'must-win' game

St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson is expecting a tough game against a “dangerous” Ayr United side, but insists that it is one that they will have to win.

The Saints host the Honest Men in the final League Cup group stage game on Sunday, with the Championship side currently leading their section by two points.

A draw could potentially be enough to see Robinson’s men reach the last 16 as one of the three best runners-up, however the manager feels that is unlikely at this stage.

One of the other teams currently in second already have nine points, with two others equal with St Mirren on seven and the other four all on six with a game to spare.

So Robinson says it is a “must-win”.

Speaking to the media on Thursday, he said: “We are getting down to the serious business now, and we have a chance to get into the last-16, so we know what we need to do, we need to win, and we are coming up against a good side with dangerous players.

“Overall it’s something like 14 games now, including pre-season, that we haven’t lost. So we are in good form.

“We are adding to the squad, we would have liked to have added sooner we could work a little bit more on things but we are getting there and starting to look like a first-team squad now.”

St Mirren emphatically defeated Annan Athletic last weekend with an 8-2 victory in Paisley, and Robinson believes they looked back to themselves after drawing with Arbroath and narrowly defeating Forfar in the earlier games.

He said: “I felt that for large parts of the game we were back to ourselves. I’ve said numerous times that the competition is very false early on when you are still trying to get fitness and get a squad together.

“You should still win, of course, on paper you should win but football doesn’t work like that. Teams have good coaches and are very well organised.

“I thought Saturday was more like us, the tempo we started with. Sunday will be a bigger test for us that will set us up nicely going into the season, and one we have to win.”