St Mirren can't hide relief of victory as St Johnstone 'miles off it' in crucial match

St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson voiced his relief after Greg Kiltie's goal gave them a crucial 1-0 victory over St Johnstone, ending a wretched run of four straight league defeats.

Greg Kiltie scores the opener for St Mirren against St Mirren.

The midfielder produced an accurate low finish, following a slick move involving Alex Gogic and Alex Greive, to move the Buddies to the brink of safety - eight points clear of the relegation play-off spot in the cinch Premiership with only three games remaining.

Robinson admitted the three points were much needed after a poor run of form since he joined the club in February.

He said: "I'm delighted with the performance. Obviously the result was everything today, but delighted with the character and how we started especially.

"Of course it's relief. You want to come in and you want to hit the ground running and win loads of games, and we haven't done that.

"The reality is before Christmas we were third from bottom and we were struggling, and we had a three-and-a-half week period where we won games and we've not managed to keep that run going and replicate that.

"The majority of the season has been a bit of a struggle if truth be told, but today the boys showed what they can do.

"Hopefully we can look forward to next season and the three remaining games and build on that because we have got good character in this squad."

St Johnstone manager Callum Davidson, however, reflected on a bitterly poor showing from his side, who came into the match on the back of two consecutive home victories but were not able to muster a shot on target on this occasion.

He said: "Very disappointing. I knew it was going to be a scrappy game, all about the first contact, winning the ball and winning second balls and we didn't do that.

"That was the biggest disappointment today. We've been good lately in games but today we were miles off it.

"The fight has been there, but today it wasn't and that's probably the thing that annoys me most."

The Saints boss also reflected on his side's lack of creativity, saying they did not make the visitors defend as much as he would have liked.

He added: "It was always going to be one goal in it, but if you don't do the basics well then you're not going to get chances and that's what happened today.

"We went a goal down and didn't play well enough and didn't do the right things to put St Mirren under pressure.

"I didn't think there was any time in the game we put them under pressure, so that's another disappointment."