St Mirren

Mark Jardine
Fan writer

Three points from four games may seem to be a sparse harvest for St Mirren as we enter September, but the true picture is more encouraging than mere numbers suggest.

In their opening quartet, the Saints have faced each of last season's top three (two away from home) and this season's new-look, seemingly unbeatable Motherwell.

Battling to three draws, twice pegged back from winning positions, there is clear evidence of a side comfortable and competitive among top-six company.

In their sole defeat, falling to a late Luke McCowan strike at Celtic Park, the Buddies deserved more for their defensive efforts.

In September, league fixtures reflect the (expected) opposite end of the table in the shape of a visit to new boys Falkirk and hosting Dundee. Add to this schedule a quarter-final visit to Kilmarnock with a spot at Hampden up for grabs, and the season's picture surely will come into sharper focus.

If there is one area that has raised hypothetically concerned eyebrows, it is profligacy in front of goal.

In their glut against Annan, the Saints scored more than they have in their other eight cup and league fixtures combined. A combination of Jack Butland's outstretched glove, a little hesitancy and facing high-possession sides can take most of the blame, but all deadline day eyes in Paisley were on potential reinforcements in this area.

And, at the 11th hour, a surely sleepy-eyed head of media put out the white smoke the waiting crowds were demanding.

Dan Nlundulu, a graduate of the Southampton academy who rose to make 12 Premier League appearances for the second-best Saints in British football, signed off on a one-year deal to leave Bolton and head further north.

Described by Stephen Robinson as providing the pace and strength lost following the departure of Toyosi Olusanya, Nlundulu brings much-needed reinforcement and competition to the established pairing of Jonah Ayunga and Mikael Mandron.

In partnering Mandron, Nlundulu completes an unlikely pair of French-born forwards who have played all of their football in the UK. With next year's World Cup on the horizon, tout est possible...

Mark Jardine can be found on the Misery Hunters podcast., external

St Mirren signed Dan Nlundulu from Bolton Wanderers on a one-year deal, fulfilling manager Stephen Robinson's wish for a pacey striking option.

Some other highlights included Keanu Baccus rejoining the club and Killian Phillips' loan deal being made permanent as the Buddies welcomed 12 new faces in total.

St Mirren fans, are you pleased with the club's transfer business? Does it leave the squad in good shape for the season ahead - or is Stephen Robinson light in certain positions?

Let us know your thoughts.

Image source, Getty Images

St Mirren have signed striker Dan Nlundulu from Bolton Wanderers on a one-year deal.

Nlundulu started his career at Southampton, where he made 13 appearances in the English Premier League before signing for Bolton on a permanent basis in 2023.

The 26-year-old spent last season on loan at Cambridge United, scoring five goals in 30 appearances.

"Dan is someone we've looked at before when he was at Southampton," manager Stephen Robinson told club media.

"He's quick, strong, has a real ability and has become available at the last minute. We believe he gives us another strong option in the attacking area. He gives us that pace and strength that we perhaps lost when Toyosi Olusanya left.

"We've high hopes for him. We need to keep him fit. He's got a lot of talent but he's had a couple of injuries, which he's now over. He's someone we are really looking forward to working with and getting the best out of him.

"It's typical of our signings; players that have real talent but have maybe lost their way a little. We know he's a really good player and he'll be a really effective player for us going forward."

Image source, SNS

Midfielder Oisin Smyth has joined Partick Thistle on loan for the remainder of the 2025-26 season.

St Mirren have an option to recall the 25-year-old in January.

Smyth, who transferred from Oxford United last summer, scored four goals in 30 appearances for St Mirren.

Manager Stephen Robinson said: "We feel that Oisin going to play games at Partick at a really good level, with really good people that we know well, will help Oisin come on leaps and bounds.

"He's not really played 20 games a season and when he does that we feel we'll have a very good player ready to come back and play in our first-team."

Kheredine Idessane
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

Image source, SNS

St Mirren fans waiting for a new face or two on deadline day are likely to be disappointed.

I am told that while manager Stephen Robinson is looking at a couple of options, it's unlikely any more deals will be done before the transfer window closes.

There's been a fair turnover at the SMISA already, with a dozen players already added to the ranks either permanently or on loan.

Watch all the highlights from Hibs' 1-1 draw against St Mirren in the Scottish Premiership.

UK users only.

Image source, SNS

Rangers came from behind to rescue a Scottish Premiership point at St Mirren - but Russell Martin's underwhelming side could not avoid recording their worst domestic start in 36 years.

Read the full match report here.

Have your say here.

Image source, SNS

St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson tells BBC Scotland: "It was a terrific game of football, first and foremost. Both teams played some really good stuff.

"I thought we created a few chances. Hibs created stuff as well, they were a big danger from set plays with their delivery and their height at the back.

"But I thought we played really well, controlled the game at times, created numerous chances. Our final ball, pass and decision has let is down and we have to work on that.

"If you don't take your opportunities, you're always liable and it could cost you three points, which it ended up doing. Overall, perhaps a draw is a fair result against a very good Hibs side.

"There's a lot of good stuff, we want to convert draws to wins. We're a good side, we've proved that, but it's those final touches. I'm desperate for another striker to give us options.

"I've been told I have to take someone out to bring someone in, which is always the case. The board will back me as much as they can."

The Scottish transfer window closes at 23:00 BST on Monday 1 September so there's still time for business to be done.

What do St Mirren need to do before the window slams shut?

Have your say here

Image source, SNS

Hibs head coach David Gray will assess his squad following the Conference League exit to Legia Warsaw after extra time in Poland on Thursday. Joe Newell is working his way back to fitness after a groin injury.

St Mirren have a fitness doubt over Jonah Ayunga (knee) while fellow forward Roland Idowu is set to play through a similar problem. Conor McMenamin (calf) and Liam Donnelly (Achilles) remain out.

Image source, SNS

Keanu Baccus insists the increased demands of Stephen Robinson will improve him as a player on his return to St Mirren.

The Australia midfielder, 27, rejoined the Buddies after a year at Mansfield and feels the standards have got higher during his time away.

Speaking before Sunday's trip to face Hibs, Baccus said: "It was only a year away but it felt like longer, because obviously the club were very successful last year, and in Europe. It's good to be back.

"I can feel that smile coming back. I play at my best when I'm enjoying it, definitely, when stuff is comfortable off the pitch it's easy to replicate it on the pitch.

"There's a little bit higher demand from when I was here last time, which is a great thing for us. A little bit more detail in how we want to play, it's definitely going to improve me as a player.

"When I came here the first time I was really surprised with the level of the club and the league, and when I got that phone call, it was a no-brainer to come back to improve myself and keep the club's standards high.

"I want to play in Europe myself with the club. Every game is tough but we want to be fighting at the top end of the table for sure."

St Mirren came within three minutes of holding Celtic at Parkhead and have drawn with Motherwell and Rangers either side of knocking Hearts out of the Premier Sports Cup.

The tough start continues this weekend as Robinson's men chase a fourth consecutive top-six finish in the Premiership.

"That's the standards the club has set over the last couple of years," Baccus said.

"Also, the players they've brought in have been fantastic and adapted well to the style and the way we want to play.

"It's good at the start of the season to play the tougher teams that will be in the top six because you can get a real gauge of where you are and test yourself against them."

Image source, SNS

St Mirrern's fitness issues up front have intensified with Jonah Ayunga battling to be fit for Sunday's trip to Hibernian.

Ayunga came off in the second half of Sunday's 1-1 draw with Rangers after scoring the opener before the break.

Mikael Mandron overcame a knock to play in that game and Roland Idowu was restricted to a late cameo as he nurses a knee problem.

St Mirren will still be without Conor McMenamin, who has a calf injury, when they face Hibs and manager Stephen Robinson does not look like getting a new striker in before the trip to Edinburgh.

"Roland Idowu is still carrying a knock on his knee so we'll rest him next week. We'll try and get him through this week," Robinson said.

"And Jonah Ayunga has missed training all week with a knock on his knee so we'll assess him on Saturday and see how he is."

Robinson added: "We're not any closer but I would love to get another striker in, a quick one that gives us options.

"I felt in the Rangers game if we had that electric pace up front then we may have hit them on the counter-attack because they're obviously aggressive with how they're planning to get back into the game.

"But you've got to run the club prudently and it's a case that we probably need somebody to leave before we're able to do that, unfortunately."

Image source, SNS

• Hibernian are winless in their past seven league meetings with St Mirren (D3 L4) since a 2-1 victory in May 2023.

• St Mirren have won each of their past three league visits to Hibs, as many as their previous 20 beforehand in the top flight (W3 D6 L11).

• Hibs are unbeaten in 13 home league games (W9 D4), their longest run in the Scottish Premiership since October 2018 (14).

• St Mirren are winless in five league games (D4 L1), last going longer without victory in May 2023 (seven).

• Hibs have scored at least twice in each of their past 10 home league games (26 goals total), the longest run in the Scottish top flight by any side other than Celtic or Rangers in the 21st century.

Chris McLaughlin
Sports news correspondent, BBC Scotland

Image source, SNS

AI is the new battlefield in football, and as well as a race for trophies, there's currently an arms race for the very latest tech.

The new technology is transforming areas such as analysis, player fitness and most importantly scouting.

"It initially started with the man doing the match report and player analysis, but it's changing and the stuff we're seeing now is scary," said John Park, St Mirren's head of recruitment.

"Only last week we had students in from the engineering department of the University of Strathclyde profiling players with us.

"We're right at the start of it and I think we may bring the students in to do their final thesis - who knows where it might go."

Park spent many years at Celtic and was responsible for the arrival of players like Virgil van Dijk and Moussa Dembele - he's a man who knows a player.

He was appointed St Mirren's head of recruitment after Martin Foyle left to join Carlisle United.

He held the same role at at Blackburn Rovers and has also worked for Rangers, Birmingham City, Maccabi Haifa and Vancouver Whitecaps.

Park says the days of people resisting the new technology in football are over, and points to player simulation as the next big breakthrough.

If club X is looking at player Y as a potential left-back, the technology now exists for AI to look at every single game player Y has ever played and put him into a simulated match alongside his potential new team-mates.

Analysts no longer have to predict how he might play in the team - they can watch his simulation perform in front of their eyes.

"It means we could essentially take the data to the manager and say 'look, he does fit us'," said Park.

Read more: How AI is reshaping football landscape

Mark Jardine
Fan writer

St Mirren, or 'the home side' as they have tended to be referred to in the several miles of column inches devoted to Sunday's draw, appear to have Rangers' number.

The media scrum regarding Russell Martin, Hamza Igamane, Club Brugge and so on is fair enough; they are the big national story.

However, what is then lost in the frenzy is the quiet, relentless nuisance of the Saints. Dating back to last season's unlucky 2-1 defeat at Ibrox, the Buddies extended their run to five consecutive performances against the blue half of Glasgow where points (plural) would have been the fair outcome.

Unbeaten in four such fixtures, Stephen Robinson's team represent the opposite end of the effort-per-quid-spent spectrum to their weekend visitors.

Robinson continues to work balance-sheet miracles, producing top-six performances on a bottom-six budget. Possession may be sparing, but is weaponised into delivering incredibly efficient outcomes in the opposition half.

If the two-pass counter is on, the two-pass counter is played and Jonah Ayunga can gratefully hold off a Scotland international defender to smash one past an English international keeper.

Keanu Baccus, Killian Phillips and Mark O'Hara may not be earning nine-bedroom and a helipad cash in Paisley, but they eke every last ounce of effort out of their energy reserves for the entirety of their matchday.

Averaging a single shot for every 45 passes (compared to a frugal 17 for St Mirren), the visitors carried a full complement of buckets and spades to the seafront yet refused to build many sandcastles.

Able to call on Spurs' next big thing, the top-scoring defender in UK history and a former Ajax striker from their bench, it was instead the impact of a hungry, homegrown talent that eventually cut through the Saints' defensive stand.

In the Glasgow two and every latte-favouring pundit's latest fascination Motherwell, the Buddies have had a challenging opening trio of fixtures. Hotter heads might see cause for alarm in the wait for a league win and limited rewards in front of goal, though context seems to have been respected for the most part.

A visit to high-flying Hibs awaits before the international break, rounding off this gruelling opening portion of the league season.

On the far shore of that particular oasis, a run of (on paper, at least) more open fixtures await. The proof of this season's level will be in September's eating.

Mark Jardine can be found at Misery Hunters, external

We asked for your thoughts after St Mirren drew 1-1 against Rangers in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday.

Here's what some of you said:

Christopher: Crazy to think where we are now that we are disappointed with a point against Rangers. I think that we had lots of good chances but unfortunately didn't take them. We've had a great start to the season, lost narrowly to Celtic with a deflected strike, point at home to a very strong Motherwell who play great football and of course the result against Rangers. Not to mention that we knocked Hearts out of the League Cup. Another great season for St Mirren is on the horizon and hopefully we can push for European football again.

Douglas: Not quite sure whether this was two points lost or one point gained! By far the better side in the first half but held on towards the end of the second as Rangers battered at the door. Two points overall after three games isn't too bad, and having played each side of the Old Firm suggests that we have come a long way. Hibs away will be another test, but we have shown that we can hurt anyone in this league, so we travel in hope!

Iain: A fair result for me in the end and a deserved point. Had a horrible feeling the opposition would nick the three points at the end. We need to defend corners a bit better. Lots of good performances, I thought the goalkeeper was excellent.

Stu: Great performance first half. Good performance second half. Never felt we had to fear Rangers. Shows you how far we've come, or how far Rangers have fallen. Take your pick, but felt like two points dropped. Again, another pointer of how far we've come.

Jonathan Sutherland
Sportscene presenter

St Mirren were excellent against Rangers on Sunday and have four players in my team of the week as a result.

Goalkeeper Shamal George made a number of impressive stops to keep Rangers at bay for the majority of the match.

Alex Gogic has the heart of a lion. He's not always perfect at the back, but he oozes leadership and pride when St Mirren are in the trenches. He is also hugely potent as a goal threat from set-pieces.

Strong, athletic, all-action - all adjectives appropriate for Killian Phillips. The Irish midfielder snapped into tackles and drove St Mirren onto the front foot.

And up front, Jonah Ayunga scored St Mirren's first Premiership goal of the season and what a huge goal it was to put Stephen Robinson's side in front.

Watch highlights as St Mirren draw 1-1 against Rangers in the Scottish Premiership.

Image source, SNS

St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson tells BBC Scotland: "I'm disappointed with the draw after the first-half performance. We controlled the game, broke really well, our play out was excellent.

"We felt we had enough chances that we could have got three points.

"We lost a little control in the game because we didn't contain the ball as much. Our two centre forwards tired which is something we have to get better at. We don't have another striker at the minute that we can put on.

"Overall I can't fault the players, we've had a tough start and some really good results. We have good boys that make the core of this team and the new players have to get to that level.

"We believe in getting our better players on the ball quicker and we're not going deviate from that. We need a really quick striker."

Image source, SNS

Rangers came from behind to rescue a Scottish Premiership point at St Mirren - but Russell Martin's underwhelming side could not avoid recording their worst domestic start in 36 years.

Read the full match report here.

Have your say here.

Image source, SNS

St Mirren have doubts over forward Mikael Mandron and Connor McMenamin (calf) while Roland Idowu is nursing a knee injury. Liam Donnelly (Achilles) remains out.

Cyriel Dessers is unlikely to shake off a knee injury for Rangers while fellow forward Hamza Igamane is still unable to start following his pre-season fitness issue.

Defender Nasser Djiga is suspended.