After a three week break from league duty, St Mirren make the long trip north to Inverness tomorrow to face John Robertson's Caley Thistle side.
The sides last met at the beginning of September when they served up a six goal thriller at The Paisley 2021 Stadium with Saints running out 4-2 winners. Lewis Morgan gave St Mirren a 1-0 half-time lead but the game exploded in the second half as former Buddie, John Baird pulled the Highlanders level again on the hour mark. Three minutes later Gregor Buchanan put the home side back into the lead but that only lasted five minutes as Liam Polworth got Caley Thistle back on level terms again. Less than five minutes later Cammy Smith fired Saints into the lead again and the points were sealed shortly after with a great Ian McShane strike.
Saints suffered a blip the following week losing at Dunfermline but have since gone on to forge forward at the top of the table until they were knocked off top spot last weekend as Dundee United took advantage of Saints playing in the Scottish Cup with the Tannadice side winning 3-0 against Falkirk to move three points ahead of Saints.
The road for Caley Thistle has been a slightly rockier one since that match-up in Paisley as they went on to pick up only two points from their next four league outings. But the side relegated from the Premiership last season look to have found their Championship feet over the last three league outings with impressive back to back wins against Dundee United and Dunfermline and a hard fought goalless draw away to Livingston. The Highlanders are still quite a bit off the promotion chasing pack but with two-thirds of the season still to go they will be expected to be up challenging for at least the promotion play-offs come the end of season run-in.
It's been close on to three years since Saints last made the trip to Inverness when they faced Caley Thistle in a Premiership match at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium on 4th January 2015. St Mirren were fighting for their Premiership status and looked to be picking up a precious point but a late goal from Billy McKay consigned the Paisley side to another defeat and sent them closer towards a relegation they wouldn't be able to avoid.
You have to go back to Boxing Day 2010 to find St Mirren's last win in Inverness. The SPL match saw Lee Cox give the home side an early lead but a goal at the end of each half from midfielder Steven Thomson saw the three points head back to Paisley.
A win against Falkirk last weekend in the IRN-BRU Cup saw Caley Thistle stretch their unbeaten run in all competitions to seven games. So while the Highlanders will be looking to build on their recent good form, Saints will be hoping to recapture the form over September and October that took them to the top of the league. After draws with Falkirk and Morton, Saints lost their last league outing away to Dundee United but after a two week break the Paisley side hit goal-scoring form again last weekend as they won 7-1 against Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale in the Scottish Cup.
It's sure to be a tough encounter in Inverness tomorrow with a win for the home side seeing them close in on the promotion chasing pack while a win for Saints will give them a good start to a three game week as they look to close the gap on Dundee United at the top of the Championship again.
