St Mirren chalk up another huge milestone as Dundee United's slump explained after major defeat

Stephen Robinson heaped praise on his players after their comfortable 2-0 win over Dundee United which kept St Mirren’s European dream alive.

Goals from Mikael Mandron and Jonah Ayunga clinched the victory at Tannadice, which moved the Paisley side to within two points of the Terrors who currently occupy fifth place – the final European spot.

The Buddies face Hibs at home on Wednesday night and no matter what happens, Robinson insists his side have still had a hugely successful season, having posted their highest points tally in the modern era.

Mikael Mandron was on target for St Mirren. | SNS Group

The manager said: “I thought the performance was outstanding and it should have been more. All we’ve said is we’ll try to continue to win football matches and see where it takes us. We just need to keep performing. The pleasing aspect for me is we deserved it, the performance was very, very good and some of the football was outstanding, so we’ll just keep doing that and see where it takes us.

“That’s the highest points tally, I think, in modern history for St Mirren. It’s better than last year, so we keep doing that and we keep growing and see where it takes us.”

Goodwin laments Dundee Utd’s comedown

The result was United’s third defeat in a row, with boss Jim Goodwin lamenting that the season is starting to take a toll on his players. However, he is expecting a big response in the remaining games against Rangers and Aberdeen.

The manager said: “It looked as if St Mirren had a bit more energy and a bit more freshness. I think this season has caught up with one or two of us. I don’t want to take anything away from St Mirren because they thoroughly deserved the win today.

“Without making excuses, we’ve got too many players just not at 100 per cent playing through injuries. I think that’s been glaringly obvious in the last couple of fixtures.

Jim Goodwin lamented Dundee United's collapse. | SNS Group

“We’ve got two massive games to come. Obviously, there’s not a great deal of time to recover. We know how difficult the task is going to be midweek and next Saturday against a very good Aberdeen team.

“We always knew once we got top six that there wasn’t going to be any easy fixtures. It is what it is at this stage of the season. I think the group has done magnificent to put us in this position.

“Of course, we’re extremely disappointed with ourselves for what’s happened in the last three games, but that is what happens in the top six. You tend to be playing against the best teams in the country at this stage. I just think we’ve been found a little bit short in the last few.”