St Mirren players 'would die for each other' as they look to secure top six finish

Stephen Robinson says his St Mirren players would “die for each other” as they look to secure a top six place at Ibrox this weekend.

The Paisley side are currently fifth in the table and five points ahead of Livingston who are in seventh with two games to go until the split.

But with a superior goal difference over David Martindale’s men, Robinson knows a point from their last two games would all but guarantee a place among the big boys in the top half for the final five games of the season.

They face a daunting task on Saturday with a trip to play Rangers who have not yet lost a home game this season.

If they fail to take anything from the southside of Glasgow then they will have another shot at getting the point required with a home game against Kilmarnock who have struggled away from home this season.

A recent drop in form from Livingston and sixth placed Hibs have left the Buddies in a good position, and only three points behind Aberdeen in third, but Robinson doesn’t want to leave anything to chance.

He said: “I don’t think we can worry about anything else that’s gone on, we can only focus on us. The jobs not done yet, it’s happened to this club when we missed out on goal-difference so we can’t allow that to happen.

“This week we need to go to Ibrox and get a result, that’s what we are setting out to do. Whatever happens to other clubs- if their results are good, bad or indifferent, we are setting out to get a result that will secure our top six place.

“The attitude all week, the intensity all week, and the discipline from the boys has been brilliant, it was a good result last week, it was a good result against Livingston, we’ve come to the fore when it mattered, but it’s not done yet and they want to go on an achieve even better things, so first and foremost we need to secure the point to make sure that happens.

“Any time you go to Ibrox it’s a tough game, they’ve not lost there in a long time, but they will have to lose sometime, so why not tomorrow?

“We need to get into the six, simple. if somebody said to anyone within this football club that we were going to be in the position we are in with two games to go, everybody would have snapped your hand off.

“There wasn’t structure here to be a top six side with all the financial troubles that have been going on but we are coming out the other side and starting to put a lot of the structures in place to try and take the club forward.”

Once top six is secured St Mirren could start looking up the table with both Aberdeen and Hearts in their sights for a potential European spot.

And Robinson puts it down to the team spirit within the camp that he is hoping can get them over the line at the weekend – then the sky’s the limit.

He said: “So all in all it’s been a good season, but we want to finish it off, we don’t want any hard luck stories and we are fully focused on doing that.

“We have put together a talented squad with players who will die for each other and that’s what you need.

“If we can cement a place in the top six first and foremost then we can look at how high we can go and how far that will take us. We are only three points of third, we have a lot of competition below us as well, two very good teams in Hibs and Livingston who have also had a very good season, so we don’t get carried away with anything.”

Fellow top six contenders Hibs host Hearts in the Edinburgh Derby on Saturday meanwhile Livingston host St Johnstone.