Stephen Robinson credits ‘irreplaceable’ Martin Foyle for lifting St Mirren

Stephen Robinson hailed St Mirren’s head of recruitment Martin Foyle as “irreplaceable” after some of the most recent recruits helped the Buddies to a blistering start to the season.

The thumping 4-1 UEFA Conference League win over Icelandic side Valur last Thursday night in Paisley which took the home side into the next round was helped by goals from new signings Shaun Rooney and Alex Iacovitti.

More joy came on Saturday when Roland Idowu, the 22-year-old midfielder who joined on a season-long loan from Shrewsbury, opened the scoring in the home William Hill Premiership opener against Hibernian with fellow new boy Oisin Smyth coming off the bench to net a double in the impressive 3-0 win, both goals set up by James Scott, signed from Exeter after a previous loan spell.

Ahead of the first leg of the Europa League conference qualifying tie against Norwegian side SK Brann in Paisley on Thursday night, Robinson paid respect to former York, Northwich and Hereford boss Foyle, with whom he also worked with at Motherwell and Morecambe.

The Northern Irishman said: “I’ve been working with Martin for a long, long time. He is irreplaceable.

“A lot of people don’t notice the work that he does.

“He finds me gems from his network of contacts all around the world.

“We shouldn’t get first refusal on a lot of players but because of his relationships we do.

“He’s been invaluable for me so he certainly deserves a lot of credit for the boys we have brought in.

“He throws me some rubbish ones as well by the way!

“Ultimately I have got the final decision on who comes. Martin knows me inside out and knows what I like and he knows I like players who can get around the pitch and can run.

“Then, after that, we mould them and try and create them as a coaching staff into better players.”