Jonah Ayunga scores for St MirrenSNS

Jonah Ayunga's first-half strike opened the scoring as St Mirren secured back-to-back wins under caretaker boss Craig McLeish

At a glance

  • Aberdeen manager Robinson suffers defeat on return to Paisley after leaving St Mirren in March

  • Goals from Ayunga and Gogic move McLeish's Buddies level on points with relegation-threatened Dons

  • Robinson remains winless in three games as manager of Aberdeen, who have won just once in past 16 league matches

Nick McPheat
BBC Sport Scotland

Relegation-threatened Aberdeen's alarming decline continued as they slumped to another abject Scottish Premiership defeat at rejuvenated St Mirren on Stephen Robinson's return to Paisley.

Jonah Ayunga's low driven effort, the striker's first goal since his League Cup final double in December, opened the scoring on a sobering afternoon for the Dons, who are now level on points with St Mirren and remain just three above Kilmarnock in the dreaded 11th-placed play-off spot.

And the away side, who have now won just one of their past 16 league matches, were eventually punished for dismal set-play defending when Alex Gogic powered in a header from a Scott Tanser corner late on.

Robinson, who is now winless in three games in charge of Aberdeen after departing St Mirren last month, did not hold back after his team were thrashed at Rangers a fortnight ago but failed to get a reaction from his players.

The Dons have struggled to deal with cross balls all season and that could have been responsible for them being four down at the break, with Liam Donnelly seeing a header tipped over before nodding off the bar.

Miguel Freckleton could only plant a close-range header of his own wide from another Declan John corner, then Donnelly got caught in two minds between going for goal or teeing up a team-mate after a deep free-kick.

Aberdeen lifted their level after Ayunga's first-half strike produced the goal Craig McLeish's St Mirren merited, but Robinson's men still finished the contest without a shot on target after having about 40% of the ball.

Analysis: Can Robinson save free-falling Dons?

Aberdeen are no closer to 11th after Kilmarnock's defeat at Hibernian but the biggest concern is their continued insipid performance level shows no sign of improving.

Even in a more encouraging second-half display, they did not make Shamal George work once in the St Mirren goal. In fact, they did not make him work all afternoon.

There have been few green shoots under Robinson, who said himself pre-match his team have talent but are lacking direction.

Their current direction has them free-falling and Robinson has a huge job on his hands to arrest that.

In the home dugout, St Mirren interim boss McLeish continues to impress. His side suffered in the second period after totally overwhelming Aberdeen in the first half, during which they should have put the match out of sight.

They demonstrated the best redeeming features in Robinson's St Mirren side but also looked more comfortable in possession, enjoying almost 60% of the ball.

There is still a lot of work to do as McLeish looks to secure St Mirren's top-flight status, but two wins from his opening three fixtures provides a solid foundation.

What's next?

Both sides play their final pre-split Premiership fixtures next Saturday (15:00 BST) as Aberdeen host Hibs while St Mirren travel to Celtic.

Player of the match

S. George
6.00
1 S. George
6.00
21 M. Freckleton
6.00
13 A. Gogić
6.00
4 L. Donnelly
6.00
24 D. John
6.00
16 A. Campbell
6.00
8 J. Devaney
6.00
88 K. Phillips
6.00
6 M. O'Hara
6.00
9 M. Mandron
6.00
11 J. Ayunga
6.00
14 D. Nlundulu
6.00
2 J. Richardson
6.00
3 S. Tanser
6.00
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