St Mirren

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• With 15 goals and five assists, Benjamin Nygren is the first player to reach 20 goal involvements in his debut Scottish Premiership season with Celtic since Jota in 2021-22 (10 goals, 10 assists), while the last to record more in their first such campaign were both Moussa Dembele (22) and Scott Sinclair (28) in 2016-17.

• Celtic have both had the most shots (543) and faced the fewest (298) of any side in the Scottish Premiership this season, while also leading the way for highest xG (70.8) and lowest xGA (31.7).

• St. Mirren have won both of their last two league games, last winning three in a row in the Scottish Premiership in December 2024.

• St. Mirren have lost 11 of their last 13 league meetings with Celtic (D2) since a 2-0 win in September 2022.

• Celtic have only lost one of their last 39 home games against St. Mirren in all competitions (W34 D4), a 1-2 league reverse in January 2021.

Watch Sportscene duo Steven Thompson and Michael Stewart discuss interim manager Craig McLeish's impact at St Mirren.

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Jonathan Sutherland
Sportscene presenter

GK: Raphael Sallinger (Hibernian)

Almost seems to get in by default at the moment because of another weekend lacking any outstanding goalkeeping performances. A couple of saves and a clean sheets means the Austrian gets the gloves again.

RB: Dujon Sterling (Rangers)

A solid performer at Ibrox and nabbed a goal in the vital 4-2 win over Dundee United.

CB: Luke Graham (Dundee)

A colossus at the back for the Dark Blues all afternoon. Unfortunate to be on the losing side.

CB: Alex Gogic (St Mirren)

Seldom a weekend goes by when this team of the week favourite doesn't find his way into the starting XI. His brilliant headed goal against Aberdeen and a clean sheet earns him another call-up.

LB: Jordan Obita (Hibernian)

Set up the goal for Felix Passlack after Owen Elding's pass unlocked the Kilmarnock defence. An effective presence down the Hibs left.

CM: Felix Passlack (Hibernian)

Another big goal for the former Borussia Dortmund man. The German has a knack for arriving in the box at just the right time.

CM: Stevie May (Livingston)

Once upon a time had the flowing locks and the killer touch of a goal machine number nine in his glorious St Johnstone era. These days he has refashioned himself into one of Livingston's most versatile players.

Age and injuries take their toll on all players but his precision finish and general clever play were fundamental for Livingston in their draw with Hearts.

FW: Owen Elding (Hibernian)

What a prospect he looks for Hibs. The 20-year-old who arrived from Sligo Rovers opened the scoring after 13 seconds against Kilmarnock and his pass to unlock the Killie defence for the Passlack goal was a measured thing of beauty.

FW: Lawrence Shankland (Hearts)

Powered in his headed goal and looked the part all afternoon against Livingston. Full of invention, poise and confidence. But, crucially, it's his killer instinct in the box that counts most.

With the national team struggling for goals, will he be Scotland's go-to man for the World Cup opener against Haiti?

FW: Claudio Braga (Hearts)

Player of the season? A joy to watch, every part of his game looks great right now. Never a doubt the goal would be scored when the chance came his way.

Could the partnership with Shankland be the key ingredient that gets the Hearts title tilt over the line? Earns extra points for me for his desire to stay on his feet in the box rather than look for a penalty.

FW: Calvin Miller (Falkirk)

A contender for the Scotland squad? The national team could do with a creative winger with pace and Calvin Miller has been providing that all season in the Premiership for Falkirk.

The stats add up as well, seven goals and 10 assists in all competitions.

Watch all the highlights as St Mirren score two against Aberdeen.

We asked for your views on St Mirren's 2-0 win against Aberdeen on Saturday.

Here's what some of you had to say:

Ali: Unbelievable performance. A match that means something mentally to avoid relegation. A definite dip in quality and more nervy in the second half but an assured header for Alex Gogic sealed the points.

Alan: Well that's probably the best first half I have seen all season, only thing missing was more goals as the game should have been out of sight. Second half we started a bit slower but totally comfortable throughout.

Colin: First-half performance is the best we've played since the cup final. Second half we lost our way a bit and allowed them back in. Three points and a clean sheet, very happy we are picking up momentum at just the right time.

Andy: Brilliant performance by all of the team, the first half was the best they have played in a long time. If we continue to play like this for the remainder of the season they will have no relegation worries and possibly a cup final to look forward to.

Peter: Excellent result and performance from the Saints. First time we've played possession football for a while and it paid dividends as Stephen Robinson was taken by surprise in the first half and they were only in it thanks to some atrocious finishing. I think we had become stale under Robinson, but simply didn't realise it as it sneaked up on us. We need to keep the intensity going though as the dreaded play off spot is still a distinct possibility.

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St Mirren interim manager Craig McLeish: "I thought the first-half performance was excellent. We were probably disappointed we didn't have a bigger lead coming into half-time.

"Our first half deserved us to be in the lead and in a good position. We were disappointed there was a little bit of anxiety and second half we dropped off and weren't quite as brave on the ball.

"The fans' support is brilliant. We're still only a few games into this, there are going to be bumps along the way. It's how we react to that and how I react to that as well.

"My only focus now is the league game against Celtic, the semi-final after that will probably be a different game.

"It's just about us game planning for the team in front of us. We have a job to do to get ourselves out of this situation and retain our status in the league."

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.

Have your say on the game here.

Read our match report here.

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Saints could have Kion Etete back, while Conor McMenamin has been nursing a groin problem.

Malik Dijksteel (groin), Keanu Baccus (Achilles) and Marcus Fraser (shoulder) are out for the season.

Elvis Bwomono could make his Aberdeen debut, while Lyall Cameron returns after being unable to play against parent club Rangers.

Mats Knoester (concussion) could be back before the end of the season. Nicky Devlin, Kristers Tobers (both knee) and Nick Suman (ankle) remain out.

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Craig McLeish aims to turn mentor Stephen Robinson's teachings against him when the former St Mirren boss returns to Paisley with Aberdeen on Saturday.

After a 1-0 defeat by Rangers and 2-1 win at Falkirk, youth coach McLeish's interim stewardship has been extended until the end of the season.

This weekend he goes head to head with Robinson in a massive showdown, with 10th-place St Mirren three points adrift of the Dons.

McLeish, who has also been joined by former St Mirren player Stuart Taylor as part of his backroom team, said: "We had so much success under the manager and he built such a good foundation.

"We all have our own views on football and how we would do things and the manager used to tell me there are only two types of coach.

"You can be a defensive coach who attacks, or you can be an attacking coach who defends, and we used to joke that I was an attacking coach who would sometimes defend. He helped balance me out so much.

"He taught me so much, he probably doesn't realise how much I watched and how much I took in of his sessions and he built such a good structure and foundation here. I now just kind of get to take that and put my own spin on it.

"It's not even about the bravery side of it, the change side of it, it's what I know. It's how I know how to coach, how to set a team up and how to try and attack.

"We're nowhere near yet where I want it look, but at the same time it's not about how pretty we look, or the style of play or what I can do as a coach, it is picking up points and winning games."

In tandem with their struggle for league survival, St Mirren also have a Scottish Cup semi-final clash against Celtic at Hampden later this month.

McLeish said: "People keep mentioning the semi-final, we'll deal with the semi-final when that comes.

"Everything right now is just Aberdeen. How do they play? What have they been doing?

"Obviously the manager's gone up there and they've had a couple of games so we're trying to watch what they've done.

"We're trying to just gameplan and prepare ourselves as best we can and once that one's out of the way, we just move on to the next game."

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• This will be Stephen Robinson's first Scottish Premiership game against St Mirren since leaving the club for Aberdeen. Robinson has won all three of his managerial games away to the Buddies in the competition, each with Motherwell from October 2018 to December 2019.

• Aberdeen have lost eight of their past nine away league outings (D1) and could go 10+ away games without a win in the Premiership for the first time since July 2022 (11).

• St Mirren have lost their past two home league matches by an aggregate score of 6-0, last losing three in a row in February 2025. The Buddies could also lose three in a row at home without scoring in the top flight for the first time since January 2024.

• Aberdeen's 1-0 victory at St Mirren in October ended a 10-game winless away league run against the Buddies (D3 L7).

• St Mirren have won five of their past eight league meetings with Aberdeen (D1 L2), although are winless in both so far this season (D1 L1).

Andrew Christie
Fan writer

The international break. The perfect time to sit back, take stock of where things are and spend a weekend extracting opinions about friendly matches out of yourself like field surgery.

It's nearly time for a return of the good stuff, though. The St Mirren stuff. Aberdeen are the visitors on Saturday, managed by a certain Stephen Robinson, making his first return to the SMiSA since his departure last month. The diary has been marked ever since.

Craig McLeish is staying at St Mirren. Interim manager until the end of the season, alongside former Saint Stuart Taylor as his assistant. So far, McLeish has had two games in charge: one loss that felt like more than that and one win that felt like a statement. He is 36, was running the academy three weeks ago and has now been handed a relegation fight and a Scottish Cup semi-final against Celtic. Saturday - as a starting point for what's to come - will be huge.

There'll be a lot of hand wringing around Robinson's return. Respect levels and who owes who what amount of what. It'll probably get quite silly. The personnel swapping between these clubs, both past and present, has already injected a fair deal into this game.

Robinson is far from the only one to have made the switch from one side of this fixture to the other. His assistant Brian Kerr. Toyosi Olusanya. Elvis Bwomono. Jayden Richardson. Killian Phillips. Jamie Langfield. Nearly Tony Docherty before he realised there wasn't nearly enough room on this merrygoround for him and all his Derek McInnes anecdotes and sent us his old Dundee assistant instead.

Scottish football is a small place. Everyone has worked for everyone, played against everyone, managed everyone. Robinson will get a reception on Saturday. Good or bad, he'll get a reception. The circumstances of his departure generated the kind of residual feeling that tends to express itself loudly in enclosed spaces.

Aberdeen sit three points above us. Win on Saturday and we drag them right into the mess with us, which would be enormously satisfying in ways that go slightly beyond the purely footballing. McLeish versus his predecessor. A relegation six-pointer dressed up as a homecoming.

Scottish football, as a product, remains an absolute laugh.

Andrew Christie can be found at Misery Hunters, external

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St Mirren interim boss Craig McLeish has been speaking to the media after being confirmed as caretaker manager for the remainder of the season.

Here are the key lines:

• With St Mirren in a fight to avoid the relegation play-off spot, McLeish wants to give the Buddies "no choice" but to keep him in the post for next season.

• McLeish knew he needed a positive result at Falkirk last time out to be considered for the interim position, saying: "I knew we needed some performances, but ultimately we needed the result as well for me even to be considered to take it forward and I'm glad we got that."

• He says St Mirren have delivered "two relatively positive performances" in his two matches in charge against Rangers and Falkirk, but there is "still so much about our performances that I'm not entirely happy about and want to keep improving on".

• "I view it right now as I'm the guy sitting here and I need to do well enough to make sure that the club have no choice but to stick with me," he adds. "Again, I also understand that in the football business if that doesn't happen, the club will make a change."

• McLeish "absolutely" backs himself and says the role is "not like an audition for me or me trying to show off my coaching skills or anything".

• "More importantly, I back the group of players that we've got," he adds. "We've got more than enough in our dressing room to keep pulling ourselves out of this situation."

• Away from league business, League Cup holders St Mirren have another semi-final to look forward to in the Scottish Cup against Celtic. On that, McLeish says: "We have to go into that with every confidence in the world and our aim is to progress in that and to win as many games as we can from now until the end of the season."

We asked for your thoughts after St Mirren put Craig McLeish in interim charge for the rest of the season.

Here's what you had to say:

Lee: Hopefully it works, but it's a gamble given he's never been in a relegation fight and what is required. Starting with next week's massive game which we can win.

Mark: Glad Craig McLeish has been given the job till the end of the season. Come on you Saints.

Thomas: I think considering what's ahead in the next three weeks, it's the only decision we could go with. It's too late to bring a different coach/ideas/tactics so close to these critical games. Fopefully it will work.

Ronnie: Think this is 100% the right decision. It's too late in season to introduce a new manager whether temporary or permanent. The players all know the current coaching staff and that will help with the eight massive games we have left. We could also have a Scottish Cup final play-off final in the same week.

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Stuart Taylor hopes to participate in "a really fantastic end to the season" after returning to St Mirren as interim assistant manager.

The former midfielder, 51, started his playing career in Paisley and has coached at Aston Villa and Wolverhampton and managed Hamilton Academical.

Taylor joins Craig McLeish's backroom team after the Buddies confirmed the latter would remain in interim charge for the rest of the season.

"I'm delighted to be back at the football club," Taylor told club media.

"I started my playing career here when I left school, so it's a club that means a lot to me. It has real passionate supporters that follow the club week in, week out, so I'm looking forward to getting back in there on matchdays and being part of that atmosphere.

"We've got a strong squad of players at this moment in time, so looking to have a really fantastic end to the season and I'm looking forward to working with the lads.

"I'm really looking forward to working with the staff also."

St Mirren, who are 10th out of 12 in the Scottish Premiership, have seven league games remaining and face Celtic in next month's Scottish Cup semi-final.

"I'm quite sure we'll bang our heads together and have loads of conversations about the best way to go and win games and get the right performances," added Taylor.

"It's a massive push from now until the end of the season. Players, supporters, staff all in it together and looking to go and get and win as many games as possible."

Tony Docherty has turned down a chance to move to St Mirren as assistant to caretaker boss Craig McLeish (Scottish Sun, external)

Read Friday's Scottish Gossip in full here.

David Currie
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

So it would seem the stars are aligning in Craig McLeish's favour.

It's beginning to look like the 35-year-old will be in charge of St Mirren until the end of the season - that's seven Premiership matches and one, maybe two, Scottish Cup ties.

A relegation battle and a tilt at securing a cup double. Quite the challenge.

For a man who had been in charge of overseeing player transition from academy to first team, this is the ultimate transition.

Stephen Robinson's abrupt and yet at the same time long-expected departure left most supporters hoping the board would bring in an experienced successor quick style.

Robbo took assistant Brian Kerr with him, ruling him out of the succession plan if he was ever in it.

McLeish was left holding the baby with goalkeeping coach Jamie Langfield and head of youth development Allan McManus.

The team was tanking in the league, not just flirting with relegation but taking it for dinner and a movie. There was a clamour to get a new boss in.

In McLeish's first game in charge, the home loss to Rangers, St Mirren put in one of their best performances for a while and perhaps should have taken something.

The style was tweaked to a more possession-based approach and players were applauded off the pitch by supporters despite the 1-0 defeat.

Next was a tough league match away to Falkirk. The Saints went a goal behind, but fought back for only their second away win of the season.

It looks like the players believe in what he's doing and fans, although not all of them, are coming round to the idea of McLeish keeping the manager's jacket until the end of the season at least.

It has become apparent finding experienced candidates willing to leave their posts at other clubs this late in the season wasn't going to be easy.

The board's fingers might well be hovering near the panic button but there's no need to press it just yet, not on the evidence of McLeish's first couple of matches.

He didn't have a seasoned assistant and things went just fine with Langfield and McManus alongside.

It is Robinson's return when Aberdeen visit Paisley on 4 April and while McLeish might be given the keys to the manager's office before then, if he can mastermind a win over the former manager's Dons he might get to keep them.