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St Mirren kept their faint European qualification hopes alive with a stirring 3-2 home victory over Ross County in the Scottish Premiership last weekend.
Roland Idowu’s goal four minutes from time secured a dramatic win for the Buddies and ensured they finished in the top-six for the third consecutive season.
As covered by Football Today and other football news sites, St Mirren now enter the second phase of the season with an outside chance of qualifying for Europe again.
They head into the final five games nine points behind Dundee United and Aberdeen, and will need a strong finish to the campaign to overcome that deficit.
If they claim fifth place and Aberdeen finish sixth, they will also need Celtic to win the Scottish Cup to take a place in the Europa Conference League qualifiers next term.
With fixtures to come against Rangers (H), Aberdeen (H), Dundee United (A), Hibernian (H), and Celtic (A), that will be a tall order for the Paisley-based club.
However, midfielder Conor McMenamin has insisted that St Mirren still have a chance of upsetting the odds over the final few weeks.
“It’s not like we are on holiday or just going into these last five games happy where we are,” McMenamin told STV News.
“We have set the bar high by being consistently in the top six – we got Europe last year and obviously we want to get it again this year.
“It’s obviously going to be tough, but we have to believe that we can win all these games. We know how tough it is going to be, but let’s see where it takes us.
“We go into every game thinking we can win it, and it will be no different on Saturday. we have already beat Rangers twice this year, so to beat them three times in a year would be a tremendous achievement.”
While McMenamin believes St Mirren could snatch a European qualification place, their hopes have been dealt a significant blow by the loss of a key player.
Striker Toyosi Olusanya has completed a £200,000 transfer to Houston Dynamo and will link up immediately with the Major League Soccer club.
The 27-year-old was set to leave St Mirren at the end of the season when his contract expired and the club has done well to get a fee for him.
However, his all-action style has given the Buddies a much-needed cutting edge in attack and he will be sorely missed over the final few weeks of the season.
Despite this, manager Stephen Robinson has insisted that Olusanya deserves the move and has backed him to be a success in North America.
“It’s something that has come out of the blue, but it’s a fantastic opportunity for him,” Robinson told the club’s official website.
“He has conducted himself so well since he’s come to the club and proved what a good player and signing he has been. He deserves every success going forward.
“For the club to secure a six-figure fee with such a short time remaining on his contract is terrific business. It’s credit to the football club and he leaves with our best wishes.
“He’s a terrific person with a fantastic work ethic and is a great example to anyone coming in from non-league of where you can take yourself. We wish him and his family nothing but continued success.”
Olusanya’s exit will give other players the opportunity to stake their claim for a place in the team, starting with the tough home game against Rangers this weekend.
