29/03/2025 – KILMARNOCK (H)

That’s how you break a hoodoo, St. Mirren style.

Our record against Derek McInnes as a manager is well known, no matter who he has been in charge of, with a dismal amount of wins during his time at St. Johnstone, Aberdeen and now Kilmarnock.

Of course, the opposite was true when McInnes was a player with Morton, and Saturday must have felt like the 1990’s for the Paisley born manager, when he left his hometown on the end of an absolute pasting.

With so many injuries and suspensions going into the match, it was nearly impossible to predict our line up and formation beforehand, and Stephen Robinson surprised many by opting for Roland Idowu up front in a free role beside Jonah Ayunga.

Despite injury concerns, Caolan Boyd-Munce and Killian Phillips started in midfield but another surprise was revealed on the bench with Mikael Mandron included 2 weeks ahead of schedule. The big striker wasn’t needed though.

From the first whistle, Saints looked sharper than Kilmarnock and extremely motivated to address the McInnes shaped hoodoo, on an afternoon a glimpse of Noah’s Ark seemed possible such was the driving rain.

Within 10 minutes, Saints were 2 nil up. Jonah Ayunga was architect in chief, setting up Boyd-Munce after 6 minutes after finding room in the inside left channel and laying it back for the midfielder to arrow a left foot shot in the corner from 20 yards.

A couple of minutes later, big Jonah found the exact same space, skinned a defender and was brought down inside the penalty area. Nick Walsh pointed to the spot, and Roland Idowu converted with ease despite the understandable tension from the stands, considering our record from the spot this season.

Saints continued to dominate as half time came and went. Those of a nervous disposition cast their minds back to Rugby Park a year ago under the same circumstances and we somehow managed to lose 5-2 after conceding a flurry of goals in a short period of time.

On this occasion though, it was Saints turn. After a period of sustained pressure Boyd-Munce made it three-nil after 59 minutes, and within 10 minutes it was 5-0, when Mark O’Hara and Declan John added to the score.

Kilmarnock looked utterly broken, and only the need for Saints to make substitutions due to fitness issues stopped the scoring continuing. It was 5-0 but in no way did it flatter the home side.

In a rare Killie attack late in the game, they gained a penalty and converted. It was the 5th penalty this season in matches between the clubs, and surprisingly they were all scored!

By full time, most of the away supporters had long gone, understandably worried about their poor form and the possibility of relegation, despite most fans of other clubs probably thinking this is unlikely.

Despite having 38 points from 31 matches and being a point off the top 6, Saints probably still can’t say they are 100% safe though, however it would take an astonishing set of results for 5 clubs to overtake us with just 7 matches remaining.

Our focus is now firmly on winning the last two matches before the split and attempting to get into the top 6.

We will rely on something giving above us in the table, however. Dundee Utd are almost unreachable for us pre-split, and only two Saints wins and two Utd defeats with a 7 goal goal swing in our favour could see us overtake them. Unlikely, but not impossible.

Hearts are currently catchable however, and have Dundee Utd next, so something is going to give above us before the final fixture. If we can win at Dens Park next week, we’ll either be above Hearts and into 6th place, or 7th but within 3 points of Dundee Utd going into the last match, and still only a point behind Hearts.

Pos	Team	Pld	Gd	Pts
1	Celtic	31	72	78
2	Rangers	31	35	65
3	Hibernian	31	7	47
4	Aberdeen	31	-5	46
5	Dundee United	31	-1	44
6	Heart of Midlothian	31	0	39
7	St. Mirren	31	-8	38
8	Motherwell	31	-17	38
9	Ross County	31	-21	35
10	Kilmarnock	31	-18	32
11	Dundee	31	-19	31
12	St. Johnstone	31	-25	26

The remaining fixtures for all 5 clubs involved are as follows:

Dundee Utd – Hearts (A), St Johnstone (H)
Hearts – Dundee Utd (H), Motherwell (A)
St. Mirren – Dundee (A), Ross County (H)
Motherwell – Kilmarnock (A), Hearts (H)
Ross County – Aberdeen (H), St. Mirren (A)

Next week is a huge match. Our performance against Kilmarnock was outstanding, and we now have Toyosi Olusanya back from suspension and probably Mikael Mandron ready to play again.

However, Ayunga and Idowu were brilliant against Killie, and the manager now has a very welcome headache ahead of this game with what he does with the forward line, nobody could possibly complain if the manager went unchanged, but in Robbo we trust.

No matter who the manager picks, lets get huge numbers to Tayside and give the team every chance of taking this to the last match, we can be the difference on the day.

COYS!

Kilmarnock Players of the Match:

5 points – Caolan Boyd-Munce

3 points – Jonah Ayunga

1 point – Roland Idowu

Check our the Player of the Season race here –

PLAYER OF THE SEASON