Unbeaten in their last four games of the 2021-22 Premiership season, St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson will be hoping to build on that league momentum for the rapidly-approaching top-flight campaign.
There were certainly signs of progress towards the last few weeks of the season and St Mirren will have high ambitions of challenging higher up the table for the highly-anticipated 2022-23 campaign.
Survival Comfortable After Strong Finish
In the end, there were few concerns Saints would be dragged into a relegation dogfight last term. St Mirren are likely to be one of the contenders for the drop when you bet on sports for this season, but Robinson will once again hope to see his side punch above their weight in the top flight. As it stands, they’re priced at odds of 1000/1 to win the Scottish Premiership. Last season the club proved they could go on positive runs of form and that was key to their survival.
St Mirren started this calendar year in superb form as they went on an impressive eight-game unbeaten run in all competitions through to the latter stages of February. Six wins and two draws in that positive spell provided some valuable league points and progress through two rounds of the Scottish Cup.
A four-match unbeaten run in their last four games of the campaign again showed that the Paisley outfit are capable of putting together strings of positive results throughout a season. The job of Robinson, his staff and the players at St Mirren Park will be to make sure the drop in results in between these spells are as short as possible.
Turning Stalemates Into wins
Looking back on the Premiership table for last season, no side played out more draws in their 38 games than St Mirren. With 14 stalemates through the league campaign, Robinson will be determined to turn a few more of those close games into three-pointers next term. It’s easier said than done, in a league that looks to be extremely competitive outside of the frontrunners of Celtic and Rangers.
Of course, the key to turning those draws into wins is more goals, and finding the back of the net was somewhat of an issue for the Saints last season. With 33 league goals in those 38 games, only St Johnstone scored fewer Premiership goals. After a number of players moved on since the end of last season, St Mirren has looked to bring in reinforcements in attack. The new arrivals should offer support to the likes of forwards Curtis Main and Eamonn Brophy, who themselves will be determined to get amongst the goals again this season.
At the other end of the field, the summer arrival of Scotland international Declan Gallagher on a free transfer should go a long way to shoring things up at the back for the Buddies. The 31-year-old brings with him a wealth of Premiership experience and will be a welcomed addition to the Saints squad.
While there is plenty of work to be done, there were spells last season that will give Robinson’s men hope of what can be achieved for the exciting campaign to come.