St Mirren are back in league action tomorrow as they take on Dunfermline Athletic in the Ladbrokes Championship. The game kicks off at 5:15pm due to BBC Alba coverage as the Buddies take on the team sitting directly above in the league.
Saints come into this game having defeated Ayr United 2-1 in the IRN-BRU Cup quarter-final on Sunday. It was Jack Ross' first win as St Mirren manager and ended a run of four straight defeats for the Buddies. Dunfermline come into this match on the back of consecutive 1-0 losses at the hands of Dundee United in both the Championship and IRN-BRU Cup. They picked up a point at the start of the month when they drew 0-0 at home against rivals Raith Rovers, but haven't won a league match since defeating St Mirren back in September.
That match in September was the last time the Buddies faced Dunfermline as they travelled to East End Park to take on the Fife side for the first time in league competition since the 2011/12 season. Allan McManus took charge as caretaker manager for the first time and was unlucky to see his Saints side edged out in the seven goal thriller, with a double from John Sutton and a wonder strike for Ryan Hardie not enough to prevent St Mirren losing 4-3.
Dunfermline, meanwhile, are making their first trip to Paisley this season. Despite being in the league below last season, they did visit the Paisley 2021 Stadium once in the 2015/16 campaign as the two sides met in the Challenge Cup. Though Allan Johnston's men were flying high in League One at the time, Saints ran out comfortable winners with Stephen Mallan scoring twice to add to goals from Calum Gallagher and Scott Agnew to give the home side a 4-0 win.
Indeed the Pars have yet to win at the Paisley 2021 Stadium since it opened back in 2009. In the four visits they've made to the ground Saints have ran out winners on three occasions with the other one ending in a thrilling 4-4 draw.
There has been very little between the two teams in their last five league encounters. Both have won a game apiece while the other three games have ended in draws, with both teams scoring 10 goals each in those matches.
Ryan Hardie and Ben Gordon return to the squad after missing out on the win over Ayr United though the game comes too soon for Andy Webster and Rocco Quinn who have made their returns to training.
This could prove to be a massive game in the Saints season. A first league win of the season would bring them to within two points of Dunfermline in the quest to start climbing up the table, while Dunfermline too will be looking to kickstart their season and could potentially leapfrog Dumbarton in eighth if results go their way earlier in the day.
All the matchday info can be found here
