Football has a funny way of going against the grain in big moments. Take Saturday’s game at the SMiSA Stadium between top-six chasing St Mirren and relegation-battling Kilmarnock.
The Ayrshire side had picked up just two points on the road ALL SEASON before they rocked up in Paisley with an unexpected spring in their step.
And prior to the weekend, St Mirren had lost just three games at home throughout their entire Premiership campaign, hardly putting a foot wrong on home soil up to that point.
St Mirren needed just a point from the match to make their top-six dream a reality.
But while the fans’ display in the stands was nothing short of beautiful, the players’ performance on the pitch was nothing short of abysmal.
With a top-six finish tantalisingly within reach, Stephen Robinson’s Buddies were surprisingly underwhelming.
While everything before the game suggested the Saints were a shoe-in for at least a point, it was Killie that turned up on the day and more than deserved to claim all three points.
And so St Mirren were in the lap of the gods again, waiting for results elsewhere to fall in their favour – just as they were in 2021.
Thankfully, this time the top-six saga finally had a happy ending.
The absolute sense of relief that went around the SMiSA when Dundee United doubled their lead late on, ensuring Livingston wouldn’t get the three points they needed to deny St Mirren a top-half finish, was palpable.
I’ve never seen a team celebrate a 2-0 defeat in a crucial game quite so much before, but no one can deny the Buddies absolutely deserved to milk that moment after such a monumental effort.
It felt fitting that one of the first faces I saw walking out of the press box was Tony Fitzpatrick’s, the club hero who received an unbelievable amount of stick for believing St Mirren could and should be a top-six side.
If anyone deserved to celebrate that achievement, he was certainly up there amongst the most worthy having championed the club incessantly while others were trying to drag them down.
And Fitzy was spot on when he talked about the progress the club has made since 2017 when they were moments away from dropping down to the third tier of Scottish football.
I have no doubt that the Buddies would have worked their way back up the ladder.
But the speed at which the Paisley club have recovered and now finished as one of the top six teams in the country is a testament to the massive amount of good work down behind the scenes and on the park.
It was, of course, fitting that Jim Goodwin played a big part in getting the job done, and I’m sure he had a wry smile to himself when he realised his Terrors had helped his old club get the job done – and it goes without saying that Stephen Robinson deserved a huge amount of credit for the incredible result this season.
In his first full campaign in charge, he’s achieved what others have failed to do in nearly four decades and the former Motherwell boss deserves a huge pat on the back.
His recruitment has been spot on, his tactics have been a little pragmatic but very effective, and his player management has been impeccable.
There has been no drama in the Paisley camp this season. Even when players have been out of favour and stuck on the bench, they’ve got behind the eleven on the pitch and that squad unity has made St Mirren much more than the sum of their parts.
That confidence and camaraderie gives them a serious shot at making this campaign even more historic by booking a return to European football next season.
While many doubted their ability to reach the top-six, few wouldn’t now consider St Mirren serious contenders as they look to hunt down Hibs, Hearts and Aberdeen and bring continental football back to Paisley.
Tony Fitzpatrick was part of the last Saints team to play in Europe, against Mechelen in the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup back in November 1987.
And if you asked him if he believed his Buddies could repeat the feat this season, I think we’d all know the answer.
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