Stephen Robinson says focus should be on St Mirren after win at Rangers

Stephen Robinson believes St Mirren deserve credit for the manner of their historic 2-0 win over Rangers on Saturday regardless of how much focus was put on Philippe Clement and his side.

Striker Mikael Mandron gave the Buddies the lead in the 51st minute before substitute Toyosi Olusanya added a second in the 70th minute, which handed the Paisley side their first win at Ibrox since November 1991 and left the Gers boss again under huge pressure.

With six fixtures remaining before the league splits, Robinson’s side, who beat Rangers 2-1 in Paisley on Boxing Day, are in sixth place in the William Hill Premiership, two points ahead of Ross County.

The Northern Irishman is excited about the prospect of another top-half finish – but he wants the win in Govan to be put in the context of another fine Buddies’ display.

He told St Mirren’s official X account: “We were comfortable throughout. It’s not often you go to Ibrox and say you were comfortable.

“Everyone will talk about Rangers. No, we were really good.

“We played when it was on to play. We created chances. We could have two or three more goals, maybe with better decisions or passes.

“But to a man the work rate and the quality has been like that for three games.

“But people only see the big result. And it’s brilliant when we do get the big result but that consistency and that level of performance leads to results like Saturday.

“We pressed them high at times, we worked on it, we didn’t let them settle.

“We thought the crowd would turn against them if we started to take the ball off them, which we done, forced them into mistakes. And when they landed on the ball the boys showed quality.

“When you go to Celtic and Rangers, and you don’t show that quality, you defend more than you have to in areas you don’t want to defend.

“But it was very comfortable, and as I say, it’s just an extension of the last two performances (draws against Hibernian and Hearts).

“And obviously this result will get headlines, beating Rangers twice in a season is a brilliant achievement from these boys.

“With six games to go, we’re sitting in the top six and you’ve got to remember expectations have risen, and it isn’t because we’ve increased finances or we’ve suddenly got millionaire backers.

“We’ve got the same amount of money to spend. But these players have risen to the occasion and that’s why the expectation has risen.”