I take a lot of heart from the defensive performance. I'm frustrated but there are things we can take out of the game."

Stephen Robinson gave his reaction to tonight's match at Celtic Park.

Two second-half goals saw St Mirren lose at Celtic Park. 

Saints resisted Celtic in the first-half, but goals in the second period from Cameron Carter-Vickers and Callum McGregor saw the Celts inflict just a second defeat for St Mirren in 2022. 

Stephen Robinson made three changes from the side that lost to Hearts on Saturday. Out went the suspended Connor Ronan as well as Marcus Fraser and Alex Greive. They were replaced by Conor McCarthy, Scott Tanser and Curtis Main. 

Celtic went close to an opener with eight minutes on the clock when Charles Dunne sliced a clearance from a Jota cross. Much to the defender's relief it crashed off the bar with Saints able to deal with the resulting corner. 

Jak Alnwick had his first save to make on 18 minutes when he made a good reaction stop to push away Liel Abada's side-foot effort from close-range.

Alnwick's counterpart Joe Hart had his first real involvement in the match two minutes later after good play down the right side from the Buddies. Richard Tait's ball in caused problems for the Celtic defence with the loose ball almost falling for Joe Shaughnessy. Former England international Hart just managed to gather the ball ahead of the Saints skipper. 

Celtic had the bulk of the possession as was to be expected but couldn't find the breakthrough in the opening 45. Daizen Maeda headed wide on 38 minutes, while Alnwick did well to claw away a Reo Hatate strike from 20 yards.

The home side continued to control the play and took the lead on 55 minutes. A free-kick swung in from the right by Jota wasn't cleared and fell to the feet of Carter-Vickers who slammed home from just a few yards out.

Stephen Robinson made two changes just after the hour mark to try and find a way back into the match with Alex Greive and Eamonn Brophy replacing Curtis Main and Greg Kiltie. 10 minutes later it was Jay Henderson and Marcus Fraser who were introduced in place of Jordan Jones and Scott Tanser. 

Greive had looked lively after coming on and played a ball into a good area in the Celtic box with 10 minutes of the game, but there were no takers for Saints. And within 60 seconds of that opening, Celtic secured the three points when McGregor scored their second. The Celtic captain drove the ball across the face of goal into the bottom right corner to ensure victory for the hosts.  

Full-Time: Celtic 2-0 St Mirren

St Mirren: Alnwick, Tait, McCarthy, Shaughnessy (c), Dunne, Tanser (Fraser 75), Power (Erhahon 79), Gogic, Kiltie (Brophy 64), Jones (Henderson 75), Main (Greive 64)
Subs Not Used: Lyness, Flynn

Celtic: Hart, Juranovic, Starfelt, Carter-Vickers, Taylor, McGregor (c) (Ideguchi 87), O'Riley (Bitton 65), Hatate (Rogic 65), Abada (Forrest 65), Jota (Karamoko 84), Maeda
Subs Not Used: Bain, Ralston, McCarthy, Ajeti

Referee: Euan Anderson
Assistant Referee: Daniel McFarlane
Assistant Referee: Jonathan Bell
Fourth Official: Don Robertson

Stephen Robinson has urged his side to be brave when they visit Celtic Park in cinch Premiership action this evening.

Saints head to the home of the league leaders tonight as underdogs and while the manager is aware of the challenge in store, he is hopeful his side can take heart from Hibernian's draw with Celtic on Sunday. 

The Buddies will go to Celtic Park with a game plan with Robinson emphasising to his players how vital it is that they are brave in possession tonight.

It's always a tough game when you go to Celtic Park. When they click they're a terrific side and it's a real challenge.

"But we go there with a game plan and we've got boys that can win matches for us.

"Nothing is impossible. Hibs proved that on Sunday and they matched them for large periods of the game and were brave on the ball.

"I still need to implement my style of play on the squad and we're drip-feeding that in.

"Hopefully we can implement that on one of the hardest stages in the world.

"We need to be brave," the manager continued.

"Any time you go to Celtic Park or Ibrox, you have to be brave on the ball.

"You obviously have to defend, there’s no doubt about it, and you have to be on top of your game defensively, but you have to pass the ball.

"We didn’t pass the ball on Saturday, even close to the way I want to play.

"We have to be brave and make those brave decisions under pressure to relieve the pressure on us. You can’t defend for 90 minutes at Celtic Park."

Watch the manager's full press conference on tv.stmirren.com.

Subscriptions start from £5.99 a month in the UK and Ireland or £14.99 a month internationally.

Dylan Reid has returned from his loan spell at Queen's Park.

Due to the terms of the original loan agreement, Dylan will be unable to play any first-team fixture before the end of the season

However, Dylan will be available to train with the first-team.

Welcome back, Dylan.

St Mirren Football Club Ltd. (The) Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 May 2021. 

Like many businesses, the Club has faced unprecedented challenges as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the actions taken by the Club over recent years and at the start of the pandemic have resulted in the Club maintaining a healthy cash position. As such, the Club is well placed to continue to meet such challenges. 

A copy of the club’s Annual Accounts can be found HERE.

St Mirren travel to Celtic Park on Wednesday to face the league leaders in cinch Premiership action. 

The Buddies lost their first match of 2022 after a 2-0 defeat against Hearts at the SMiSA Stadium. Despite that loss, Saints have been in good form this year having won six of nine in all competitions. 

Celtic are three points clear at the top of the cinch Premiership following their 0-0 draw with Hibernian at Easter Road on Sunday. That was the first time they had dropped points in the league since their visit to the SMiSA Stadium in December. 

Match Details

Celtic v St Mirren
Competition: cinch Premiership
Date: Wednesday 2nd March 2022
Kick-off: 7:45pm
Venue: Celtic Park, Glasgow

Match Info

Tickets for Wednesday night's match are only available at the St Mirren Ticket Office. Ticket info is available here.

The St Mirren Ticket Office is open between 10am-2pm on Tuesday and Wednesday. 

PPV is available from Celtic at a cost of £12.99. PPV passes can be purchased here.

Covid Status

Covid status checks are no longer in place. 

Previous

A depleted St Mirren side were held to a draw with Celtic at the SMiSA Stadium the last time the sides met. 

Just three days before Christmas, Saints - who were missing 12 players due to covid - battled to a 0-0 draw with the Celts.

Celtic were resounding winners when Saints visited Celtic Park in August. Ange Postecoglou's side won 6-0 with the Buddies reduced to 10 men after an early red card for Alan Power.

Saints won at Celtic Park last season with goals from Kristian Dennis and Ilkay Durmus seeing the Buddies win at Parkhead for the first time since 1990.

The sides couldn't separated when they last met (Image: Allan Picken)

The officials

The referee on Wednesday night is Euan Anderson. He's assisted by Daniel McFarlane and Jonathan Bell, while Don Robertson is the fourth official. 

Tickets for our Scottish Cup Quarter-Final against Heart of Midlothian are now on-sale at the St Mirren Ticket Office. 

Saints travel to Tynecastle in the last eight of the Scottish Cup on Saturday 12th March.

Tickets can be posted out to supporters but this will entail special delivery costs with the cut-off for this on Wednesday 9th March. For more details please contact tickets@stmirren.com. 

Hearts v St Mirren
Scottish Cup Quarter-Final
Venue: Tynecastle Park
Date: Saturday 12th March 2022
Kick-off: 7:45pm

Ticket prices are as follows:

• Adults - £15
• Concessions* - £10
• U16s - £5

*Over-65, U18s and full-time students.

The Ticket Office hours for this week are as follows: 

MON - 28/02/2022 - 10:00-14:00
TUE - 01/03/2022 - 10:00-14:00
WED - 02/03/2022 - 10:00-14:00
THU - 03/03/2022 - 10:00-14:00 and 17:00-19:00
FRI - 04/03/2022 - 10:00-14:00
SAT - 05/03/2022 - CLOSED
SUN - 06/03/2022 - CLOSED

St Mirren Ticket Office Tel: (0141) 840-6130.

St Mirren Ticket Office E-Mail: tickets@stmirren.com 

Tickets for our match against Celtic on Wednesday are still available at the St Mirren Ticket Office. 

The Buddies head to Glasgow to face Celtic at Celtic Park.  

Please note that tickets are not available online.

Celtic vs St Mirren
cinch Premiership
Venue: Celtic Park, Glasgow
Date: Wednesday 2nd March 2022
Kick-off: 7:45pm

The ticket prices as follows:

Adult - £30
Concessions* - £20
U13** - £12

*- 65+ and Under-16s
**- Under -13s must be accompanied by an adult

For wheelchair and carer tickets please get in touch with the St Mirren Ticket Office to arrange. Wheelchair users price is £20 with PA free of charge. 

They fought right to the end and I've said to them not to let this result derail anything that's been done."

Stephen Robinson gave his reaction to this afternoon's cinch Premiership match against Hearts.

St Mirren were beaten in the first match of the Stephen Robinson era as two goals in three second-half minutes gave Hearts victory in Paisley.

Liam Boyce spurned a number of early chances for the visitors before Saints were dealt a blow when Conor Ronan was shown a straight red for a late challenge on Beni Baningime midway through the first half.

It took until after the hour mark for Hearts to make their advantage count as Ellis Simms scored at the second attempt, but the wasted little time in doubling their advantage as Cammy Devlin's goal was allowed to stand despite home keeper Jak Alnwick appearing to have been fouled in the build-up.

New Saints boss Robinson didn't make any changes for his first game, sticking with the side that had drawn with Livingston a week earlier. There were plenty of changes for Hearts with Craig Gordon back in goals, Craig Halkett returning to the defence and Baningime, Ben Woodburn, Liam Boyce and Gary Mackay-Steven also coming into the team.

Boyce had an early sight of goal after good work from Barrie McKay but his effort from the edge of the box was well off target. The striker had a far better chance when Stephen Kingsley picked him out with a great cross to the back post but Boyce could only head tamely into the arms of the grateful Jak Alnwick. The Saints defence didn't heed the warning and a few minutes later another cross, this time from McKay, found Boyce lurking – Alnwick parrying his header before the ball bounced back off the Northern Irishman and behind.

Hearts were getting plenty of joy down the left, Woodburn firing well over from a Mackay-Steven cross. It hadn't been the best of starts for Saints but midway through the half things got much worse when Connor Ronan made a high challenge on Baningime and ref Greg Aitken – following consultation with his assistants – showed him a straight red card. The Jambos looked to make their numerical advantage count straight away, Woodburn sending a shot over from range before Kingsley sliced one wide.

Connor Ronan was shown a straight red card for his challenge on Beni Baningme (Image: Allan Picken)

The red card seemed to have fired Saints up and they forced a couple of corners, an Alex Gogic header being deflected behind from the first before Alex Greive went down under Woodburn's challenge at the second, a challenge which had the home support screaming in vain for a penalty. Set-pieces were looking like Saints' best hope, Joe Shaughnessy heading over from Jordan Jones' next corner.

The Buddies made a bright start to the second half but had Alnwick to thank for keeping the scores level, the goalie keeping out Boyce's effort then putting his body on the line to block repeated attempts by the men in maroon to force the loose ball into the net before it eventually went out for a goal kick. The away fans then screamed for a penalty when Cammy Devlin thumped the ball at Alan Power from close range but it would have been a harsh award. However, Power seemed to take exception to his opponent's appeal and the pair were booked after exchanging handbags.

It proved irrelevant as a few minutes later Hearts took the lead. The Saints defence failed to stop McKay's cross from the left getting to Ellis Simms and although Alnwick blocked the first shot, he could do nothing to stop the sub stabbing home the rebound. It should have been game over a few minutes later as a cross from Josh Ginnelly evaded the Saints defence but Boyce couldn't bundle it home.

Any hopes the Buddies had of salvaging something from the match were quickly extinguished in controversial style. Baningime played a great through ball to Simms, with Alnwick rushing out to block the shot. The Hearts man clattered the Saints goalkeeper, who went down injured, but play was allowed to continue and Devlin gleefully thumped the ball into the net. The home supporters and players were furious that a free-kick hadn't been given for Simms' challenge, Richard Tait earning a booking for protesting while Alnwick received treatment.

Simms went close to getting the third, getting the better of Shaughnessy before seeing his shot tipped over by Alnwick. A few minutes from time Ginnelly played in Boyce but the striker summed up his day by shooting wide. However, the damage had already been done with Saints' unbeaten start to 2022 finally coming to an end.

Full-Time: St Mirren 0-2 Hearts

St Mirren: Alnwick, Fraser, Shaughnessy (c), Dunne, Tait, Power (Brophy 69), Gogic, Ronan, Kiltie (Flynn 63), Jones, Greive (Main 63)
Subs Not Used: Lyness, Millar, McCarthy, Tanser, Erhahon, Henderson 

Hearts: Gordon (c), Atkinson (Cochrane 56), Souttar, Halkett, Kingsley (Halliday 69), McKay, Baningme, Devlin (Haring 69), Mackay-Steven (Ginnelly 55), Woodburn (Simms 56), Boyce
Subs Not Used: Stewart, McEneff, Moore, Sibbick

Referee: Greg Aitken
Assistant Referee: Graeme Stewart
Assistant Referee: Ross Macleod
Fourth Official: John Beaton

Attendance: 5,767