Preview - St Mirren (a)

We did keep a clean sheet against St Mirren last time but that was only due to a Colin Meldrum penalty save.  Other than that they were probably the slightly better side throughout but Foran missed the best chance of the game.  At Love Street our last two performances have been nothing short of horrific and we will need to find some way to improve if we are to take something.

Perhaps we struggle so much because their 3-5-2 system puts too much pressure on our midfield.  They out man us in the middle of the park  either 3 v 2 or 5 v 4  and we cannot get enough of the ball to feed McDonald into the space behind their wing backs.  With Kerr playing as well as he has done all season and Fitzpatrick bringing a new energy to the side we should at least compete in the centre but both Foran and whoever plays on the right, McGarry, Smith or Molloy, will also have to dig in and fight when it is needed. 

Paterson is suspended so even if he had recovered from injury we would be playing Murphy anyway.  There is no chance anyone else in the back four will change but Clarkson will drop out of the attack as he is also banned.  That will mean decisions about a partner for McDonald.  Keegan could come in as a direct swap but he looks slow and immobile, precisely the Jim Hamilton-like throwback we don't need playing from the start.  More helpful to our attempts to play football  or at least sensible long balls rather than aimless punts  would be moving one of the extra wingers into an attacking role.

St Mirren have not been playing that well recently and they have slipped behind us in the league table.  We will be hoping to ensure they stay there and while a win would go a long way to achieving that we will have to settle for a point instead.  1-1.