St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson believes his side had a rare off day against Kilmarnock but can get “back on track” with a good performance against Aberdeen.
The sides meet in Paisley in their first game back after the international break, and St Mirren’s staff and players have had a two-week wait to put a disappointing afternoon at Rugby Park behind them.
After a few days off, Robinson has had his squad back on the training pitch and thinks the players have shown the right response and are “back to doing what we do”.
“We were a shadow of ourselves against Kilmarnock, so we reminded everybody what we are very good at, and the reasons that we’ve done well,” he said.
“We’ve got back to that this week. Training has been good, been bright, and we’ve got some players back on the pitch who weren’t available for Kilmarnock.”
Though disappointed with that performance, Robinson was keen to defend his players’ efforts and how consistent they usually are.
“We’ve got a very conscientious group of boys who give absolutely everything. They know when they haven’t played well and accept that.
“I wouldn’t come out and criticise them because they have been so good for me. Collectively we had an off day, we recognise why, we didn’t play like St Mirren do and that cost us.”
St Mirren haven’t lost to Aberdeen in Paisley since 2018, and the Dons have struggled this season but got their first league win in impressive fashion with a 4-0 victory over Dundee before the break.
Robinson knows it won’t be easy to keep their unbeaten streak against their opponents going, but is confident.
“If we play to the levels we can, then I believe we can get a result,” he said.
“We don’t fear anybody. We’ve been very good at home. We’ve had a relatively decent start to the season, and it would maintain our position in the top six (with a win or draw).
“It’s a one-off game; it doesn’t matter what happened previously. Again, we need to be at our very best to beat Aberdeen any time we’ve ever played.
“We know we’re facing a side full of talented players. It doesn’t matter what the league table is at this moment. It’s irrelevant.”
St Mirren are boosted by the return to fitness of Marcus Fraser, Mark O’Hara and Keanu Baccus.
“All three are available for selection, so that gives me some difficult selection issues, which we want,” Robinson said.
“When we’ve had a midfield of Keanu, Mark and Killian Phillips, we’ve not lost a game this season.”
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