The 2023/24 Scottish Premiership campaign is turning into quite a mixed one for St Mirren fans. 14 games into the season, we are sat in third place in the table having picked up six wins and four draws, but recently our form has taken a bit of a battering and in the last five matches, we have lost three of them and fans are hoping that this turn in form is now not going to become the norm for the remainder of the campaign, particularly as we head into the second half of the season and the New Year.
One of those defeats came in the midweek clash with Ross County at Victoria Park, it was ultimately a pretty dull affair with the live betting suggesting we were on for a bore draw. There few real chances for either side in freezing temperatures, but in the final ten minutes of the game the hosts got their breakthrough to end their own 10 game winless run and upset the odds. The travelling Buddies fans would certainly have hoped for a different result on the night and given the over all performance levels on the day, there will certainly be those in the Black and White Army that feel we were probably quite unlucky to have not come away from Dingwall with at least a point for our efforts. As it was though, we came away with nothing and manager Stephen Robinson pulled few punches as he met with the media following the full time whistle.
"We didn't do the basics right from a defensive situation. There wasn't too much in the game. We have to be braver as a group to put our stamp on the game. They have Jordan White to run off and we don't have that. We have to take responsibility. We play better against the top teams when we pass the ball. We need to do the same against the boys at the bottom end of the table."
The 48 year old former Northern Ireland international midfielder, went on to add that we simply did not take control across the game, and unfortunately from our point of view, in not properly stamping our authority on the match, we switched off at key points - such as the set piece that they ultimately scored from. In his view we deserved absolutely nothing from the game, because we continue to not dominate matches in the way we should be, and we continue to not get the basics of the game right.
As fans will know, despite the stutter in our own more recent form, had we secured victory and all three points in Tuesday evening's encounter, we would have gone to within three points of second placed Rangers, and that would then, in turn, mean that we could have potentially gone level on points with them were we then capable of picking up a victory in our upcoming trip to Ibrox this weekend.
Unfortunately, as things now stand, Rangers are six points ahead of us, with a game in hand and we only have a five point buffer to seventh placed Dundee, and they along with Hearts, also have a game in hand over us. A further defeat to Rangers will see the chasing pack get a hell of a lot closer and with two wins in eight, billing the match as 2nd vs 3rd - at least on a form level - is currently overblowing this one.
But it is why we all love the beautiful game, a victory could change our entire perspective on our season again. If we can find our form, the outlook could easily and very quickly change with December's festive fixtures on the horizon. But it absolutely goes without saying that we will have to put in a far better performance against Philippe Clement's side than we did against Ross County if we are to come out of the 90 minutes with anything to show for it.
