Stephen Robinson hopes fitness boost can help St Mirren seal top-six spot

St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson is hoping the rare luxury of a fully-fit squad can help his side over the line in their bid for a top six place in the Premiership.

The Buddies were held to a 1-1 draw against Motherwell at Fir Park after Theo Bair scored late on to cancel out Marcus Fraser’s opener after 18 minutes.

It leaves Robinson’s men on the brink of a second successive top half finish, though there is still some work to do with fixtures against Hearts and Celtic on the horizon.

“Hopefully, for the first time this season, we’ll have everybody fit in the building for longer than maybe two hours,” Robinson said.

“We are in total control of the top six. If I said at the start of the season two years ago that we’d be a top six team two years in a row – everyone would have snapped my hand off.

“It’s up to us to now go get the point we need to finish the job.”

Robinson admits that despite the satisfaction that comes with seeing his players receiving international recognition, it did hamper his team’s preparation for their trip to face the Steelmen.

The likes of Jonah Ayunga and Elvis Bwomono faced trips back from Morocco and Malawi respectively – meaning they both had to settle for brief cameos from the bench.

“It’s great international caps but you don’t see the boys for weeks on end,” he added.

“The ones that don’t play end up in hotels, eating a lot of food and becoming a bit sluggish.

“It does affect things of course, it was important we bounced back from the Kilmarnock result to show our resilience and anybody that questioned the character – it was there in abundance.”

Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell hailed Georgie Gent as one of the best crossers in the league after his display against St Mirren.

Gent, who has spent the season on loan from Blackburn, was a constant threat and laid on numerous chances for his team-mates.

Kettlewell also provided an encouraging update on Stephen O’Donnell, who limped off during the final minutes.

“Georgie is a good player, what everybody needs to probably remember is that this is his first loan,” he said.

“I believe that if we can get him in a good frame of mind, which he currently has, enjoying his football, and focused on learning and developing, then for me we’ve possibly got one of the best crossers of a football – certainly one of the best I’ve ever worked with and in the league when on the run.

“As that ball is moving he delivers such quality but we need to get into better areas.

“I’m hoping with Stephen it was just a bit of cramp in his hamstring, he never misses a minute of training or games – he’s available for everything.

“Maybe that’s just caught up with him, he should be fine.”