St Mirren’s unbeaten start to the new Scottish Premiership campaign has seen manager, Stephen Robinson, pick up his first award of season by being named the Scottish Premiership Glen’s Manager of the Month for August 2023.

The Buddies claimed two wins out of three during August, with victories over Hibernian and Dundee, as well as the weekend draw with Aberdeen, to share top spot with Celtic and Motherwell in the Premiership table.

Robinson’s side scored eight goals in those four matches and have an away fixture with Livingston coming up this weekend.

Manager Stephen Robinson said: "As every manager says, it’s not just one person at the football, it’s a culmination of everyone’s hard work over a period of time.

"We’re starting to reap the rewards of it and this month it’s been recognised. It’s credit to everybody and even more so to the players for their performances."

Colin Matthews, CEO of Glen’s owner the Loch Lomond Group, said: "St Mirren have been making significant progress under the stewardship of Stephen Robinson and his coaching staff and that has again been highlighted in what has been a terrific start to the new league campaign.

"The voting panel did consider the starts made by both Celtic and Motherwell but felt that St Mirren’s results just edged it in terms of this month’s award, especially with the away win at Easter Road.

"My congratulations go to Stephen, his coaching staff and everyone involved at The SMISA Stadium on being named the first Scottish Premiership Glen’s Manager of the Month of the 2023/24 season."

Ryan Strain made it a double as he picked up the cinch Premiership Player of the Month award for August 2023. 

St Mirren make the journey to West Lothian on Saturday to face Livingston in the cinch Premiership.

It's Saints' last match ahead of the international break with Stephen Robinson's side having picked up seven points from our opening three league games. The Buddies were minutes away from three league wins on the bounce but for a late Aberdeen penalty seeing us draw 2-2 with the Dons at The SMiSA Stadium on Sunday. 

Livingston have won one, drawn one and lost one of their first three cinch Premiership matches. The Lions defeated Hibernian 3-2 at Easter Road on Saturday following a 0-0 draw with Aberdeen on the opening day of the season. Their only defeat came in a 4-0 loss to Rangers at Ibrox. 

Match Details

Livingston v St Mirren
Competition: cinch Premiership
Date: Saturday 2nd Sep 2023
Kick-off: 3pm
Venue: The Tony Macaroni Arena

Ticket Info

Tickets are available online through Livingston's ticketing platform. Tickets are priced at £25 for adults, £17 for concessions and £10 for U16s. Full ticket info is available HERE.

Wheelchair/carer tickets are priced at £17 with carer free of charge if proof provided and these are only available at the St Mirren Ticket Office. Ambulant supporters must contact Livingston directly.

International subscribers to St Mirren TV can watch the match live as part of their subscription, while UK based subscribers can listen to audio commentary. 

Previous 

Saints were unbeaten in three meetings against Livingston in the cinch Premiership last season. 

The most recent saw Mark O'Hara's first-half brace, either side of a Tony Watt goal, give the Buddies a 3-0 win over the Lions at The SMiSA Stadium in April. 

Curtis Main's equaliser saw Saints pick up a point in our only meeting at The Tony Macaroni Arena in December last year in a 1-1 draw with both sides reduced to 10 men.

A last-minute Alex Greive goal saw us defeat Livingston 2-1 at The SMiSA Stadium in October despite being down to 10 men after Jonah Ayunga's red card. 

Livingston's last win in this fixture came in the Viaplay Cup in August 2021 when the Lions won 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in normal time. 

Mark O'Hara scored twice when Saints beat Livingston 3-0 in April (Image: Allan Picken) 

The officials

The referee on Saturday is Nick Walsh and he'll be assisted by Graeme Stewart and John Stewart. Dan McFarlane is the Fourth Official. 

Andrew Dallas is the video assistant referee (VAR). 

St Mirren donated family season tickets to families from Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan and Kurdistan and through the club the families have found friendship and happiness.

St Mirren teamed up with Serve 2020, a community group who support refugee families. St Mirren donated family season tickets to Serve 2020 group members with each parent, child and family member delighted for the opportunity to experience a football game.

Through the donated St Mirren family season tickets, families made the local trip to SMiSA Stadium and thoroughly enjoyed the match day atmosphere. Serve 2020’s involvement with our friendly and welcoming club has paved the way for families to establish a connection to their new hometown of Paisley and join the collective excitement of supporting the Saints alongside other families.

The children coming along to the matches proudly paint the club badge on their face, happily receive good bags and get involved with the panda games. Their reading and writing skills have also strengthened as they have created biographies of their favourite St Mirren players.

The love for spending time at St Mirren’s SMiSA Stadium has led to an overall interest in Scottish Football with families arranging a visit to Hampden Park Stadium and Museum Tour to increase their football knowledge.

It is extremely humbling that throughout a challenging time in their lives, families have found joy and friendship in our club.

We have a number of our players out on loan. Here's a look at how some of them got on at the weekend. 

Kieran Offord scored and assisted one to give Edinburgh City a 2-0 lead against Annan Athletic in cinch League One. But the Citizens couldn't hold on to their lead and fell to a 3-2 defeat at Galabank. 

There was another 90 minutes for Fraser Taylor in the NIFL Premiership as 10 man Ballymena United were beaten 2-0 by Glentoran. The 20-year-old has now made three starts in a tough beginning to the season for Ballymena in which they've faced last season's top three sides over the last three matches. 

Aiden Gilmartin missed out on East Kilbride's 4-2 win against Cowdenbeath in the Lowland League after picking up an injury in training. 

Tickets for our cinch Premiership match away to Livingston are on sale now. 

The Buddies travel to the Tony Macaroni Arena on Saturday 2nd September to face the Lions in league action. 

Saints supporters can buy tickets online now at THIS LINK and should select from sections N or P in the East Stand of the Tony Macaroni Arena. 

Livingston v St Mirren 
Competition: cinch Premiership
Date: Saturday 2nd September 2023
Kick-off: 3pm
Venue: The Tony Macaroni Arena

Livingston Ticket Info

Adults - £25
Concessions - £17
U16s - £10

Wheelchair/carer tickets are priced at £17 with carer free of charge if proof provided and these are only available at the St Mirren Ticket Office. Ambulant supporters must contact Livingston directly.

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

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

If you're a St Mirren fan, I'd like to think you're enjoying the football. The place was rocking today."

Manager Stephen Robinson was effusive in his praise of his side following today's 2-2 draw against Aberdeen.

Saints had to settle for a point after a dramatic VAR-filled afternoon at The SMiSA Stadium. 

The Buddies had two goals disallowed and conceded a penalty in the 100th minute as Aberdeen snatched a point at death. Stephen Robinson took great pride in his team's performance as they dominated the proceedings, but just couldn't hold on to the three points.

The manager made one change to the side that defeated Motherwell in the Viaplay Cup last weekend with Toyosi Olusanya coming into the starting eleven in place of Mikael Mandron who dropped to the bench.  

After a bright start, The Buddies had the ball in the net on 22 minutes when Ryan Strain's deflected effort fell to the feet of Keanu Baccus who knocked beyond Kelle Roos in the Aberdeen goal. But the linesman flagged for offside and a quick VAR check confirmed the Australian midfielder was indeed offside. 

Keanu Baccus found the net in the first-half but the goal was disallowed for offside (Image: Jeff Holmes)

Saints were well on top and their best chance of the opening 45 came with just over 10 minutes of the half remaining when Roos made a wonderful save to tip Greg Kiltie's header over the bar. That came just two minutes after the Dutch goalkeeper saved another header from Olusanya. 

But Saints were hit with a sucker punch on 42 minutes when Aberdeen took the lead. Jonny Hayes' free-kick from the right evaded everyone and sneaked in at the back post to give the visitors the opener. 

Despite the first-half setback, Saints were right at it after the restart and thought they had drawn level when Kiltie knocked home from close range after Roos spilled Baccus' shot at the midfielder's feet. A lengthy VAR check ensued and the goal was disallowed with Olusanya seemingly offside during the phase of play.

Olusanya had a glorious chance to equalise just a few minutes later when he broke forward and strode clear of the Aberdeen defence from his own half. But as he bore down on goal, his effort was blocked by Roos. 

Saints were awarded a penalty just before the hour mark when Strain's cross came off the hand of Dons defender Angus MacDonald. VAR checked, but the penalty stood and Kiltie would get his goal as he sent Roos the wrong way to make it 1-1.

Greg Kiltie nets from the penalty spot to draw us level (Image: Allan Picken)

Stephen Robinson made two changes with 20 minutes to go as Alex Greive and Mikael Mandron replaced Kiltie and Olusanya. And the subs combined soon after their introduction to put us ahead. Mandron's brilliant driving run saw him pick out Greive with a wonderful pass through the Aberdeen defence. The New Zealand forward made his way into the box and slammed into the near post to give Saints a well deserved lead. 

Even though eight minutes were added it looked like the Buddies would see the game out, only for VAR to intervene yet again. This time Alex Gogic was penalised for a handball in the box. Bojan Miovski stepped up and scored despite seeming to take two touches. The protestations from the Saints players fell on deaf ears as we had to settle for just a point that keeps us joint top of the cinch Premiership after matchday three. 

Full-Time: St Mirren 2-2 Aberdeen

St Mirren: Hemming, Fraser, Gogic, R.Taylor, Strain, Baccus, Boyd-Munce (Bolton 81), Tanser, Kiltie (Greive 70), Olusanya (Mandron 70), McMenamin (Flynn 87)
Subs Not Used: Urminsky, Dunne, Small, Jamieson, Nahmani 

Aberdeen: Roos, Rubezic, MacDonald, MacKenzie (Jensen 56), Devlin, Clarkson, Shinnie (c), Hayes (McGarry 52), Polvara (McGrath 56), Miovski, Duk (Morris 77)
Subs Not Used: Doohan, Barron, Sokler, Duncan, Dadia

Referee: John Beaton
Assistant Referee: Douglas Ross
Assistant Referee: Ross Nelson
Fourth Official: Stewart Luke
VAR: Euan Anderson

Attendance: 7,492 

St Mirren Football Club is delighted to announce the loan signing of Thierry Small on loan until the end of the season.

The 19-year-old returns to the Buddies from English Championship side Southampton having already had a loan spell at Saints from January until the end of last season. 

Thierry made 15 appearances during his time at Saints last season and rejoins Stephen Robinson's squad on a season-long loan.

The manager admitted the wing-back was someone the club had been keen to bring back this season.

He told stmirren.com: "Thierry is someone we've chased all summer.

We got glimpses of his potential last season: his pace, his energy and his quality. We're hoping for more that again.

"We know him as a person. We know his strengths and weaknesses. He's a still a young kid and we aim to keep developing him, but certainly I feel he'll be a big asset for the squad.

"We've only had one in at left-back and left wing-back which has meant moving others around and out of their best positions for cover.

"Scott Tanser has been excellent for me, but Thierry brings real competition in that area and he can also play in at right wing-back and can play further up the pitch. In a tight squad, Thierry gives me a multitude of options."

St Mirren Youth Academy graduate Luke Kenny will join Cliftonville on loan until the end of the season subject to clearance.

Luke will link up Jim Magilton's NIFL Premiership title hopefuls as he looks to continue his footballing development.

The 19-year-old defender made his Saints debut as a substitute in our win against Cowdenbeath in the Viaplay Cup before a further sub appearance in our victory over Forfar Athletic at The SMiSA Stadium.

He becomes the second Saints Youth Academy graduate to make the temporary move to the NIFL Premiership, with teammate Fraser Taylor gaining valuable playing time at Ballymena United. 

Manager Stephen Robinson said: "It's a super move for Luke. Cliftonville are a really good side managed by a top manager in Jim Magilton.

"He'll drive Luke's standards and it's a fantastic opportunity to get game time at a really good standard. We're really looking forward to seeing how he progresses."

We wish Luke the best of luck in his time with Cliftonville. Saints retain the option to recall the 19-year-old in January. 

The first Help a Buddie tickets of the new season have been handed out for Sunday’s match against Aberdeen.

Tickets were handed to lifelong Buddie Andrew, a service user of RAMH (Recovery Across Mental Health). RAMH is a Scottish registered charity based in Paisley, supporting approximately 7000 people a year across Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire in their recovery from mental ill health. They promote recovery from mental ill health, and empower people to build independent, fulfilled lives.

Andrew will now get the opportunity to watch the Saints take on Aberdeen thanks to the generosity of the St Mirren support.

Help a Buddie was launched last season as supporters bought and donated match tickets with the aim of giving some of the most vulnerable and at need in our community the chance to attend matches at The SMiSA Stadium where they may not have previously had the opportunity.

To donate a Help a Buddie ticket please click HERE. If you would like to nominate a worthwhile individual/cause then please fill in this short form.