Stephen Robinson shocked by St Mirren performance in Arbroath draw

St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson admitted his surprise at a lacklustre performance as his side drew at Arbroath in their opening Premier Sports Cup game.

The sides drew 0-0 after 90 minutes where visitors St Mirren struggled to create any clear chances against their Championship opposition, with captain Mark O’Hara sent off late on and the Red Lichties then going on to win the penalty shoot-out for the bonus point.

Robinson was taken aback by an error-strewn display and said that he hadn’t been expecting it after what he had seen as positive preparations for the new season.

“I’m in a little bit of shock, to be honest,” the Saints manager told the club’s media channel.

“The performance from 13 of them was something I haven’t seen in pre-season.

“We’ve had a fantastic pre-season but I didn’t recognise some of the decision-making, some of the passing.

“The simple things we’ve continually done, we’ve collectively decided not to do that.

“We got exactly what we deserved. Out of the team that started, Peter Urminsky and Marcus Fraser are arguably the only people who come out with any credit, or that I at least recognised their performances.

“I didn’t see that coming. I have to be honest and I did not see that coming at all.

“It’s extremely disappointing and there has to be a reaction.

“We are and will be better than that.”

The team will get a chance to show improvement quickly, with a trip to Forfar on Tuesday for the second group game. Robinson said things would be better but also believes the club has to step up their recruitment to find more of a creative spark.

“It’s extremely frustrating and there has to be a reaction,” he said. “There will be, naturally.

“You can not have nine starters play that poorly and make that many poor decision.

“No matter how many changes and substitutes we had today, we could still be here now and we wouldn’t score.

“It happens at times. It’s not acceptable, of course, but I’m expecting a much better performance based on what I’ve seen so far.

“We need to get players in. We need more creativity in the team. We’re trying but it’s proving extremely difficult.

“There needs to be much-improved decision-making, quality and passing. We’re the team meant to take it to the opposition and we’ve struggled to do that.

“Overall, it was poor.”