Starting a new job is never easy.
Getting to know your new surroundings, meeting your colleagues and trying to get to grips with your workload all take time.
Unless they take over in the middle of the summer, football managers rarely have the luxury of a bedding in period.
And while Stephen Robinson has been fortunate to take over a team that were on fine form, he has still nonetheless been dropped into the Saints role in the midst of a crucial period of the season.
He’s also had two of the toughest fixtures he could have faced to kick off with.
While Hearts arrived in Paisley on a fairly poor run of form, they are still currently the third best team in the division by some distance looking at the current Premiership table.
Going a man down so early in the first half certainly didn’t help matters for St Mirren either.
A nice easy fixture to help ease you into your second game?
Not a chance for Robinson unfortunately.
A trip to Celtic Park beckoned, a less than happy hunting ground for the Buddies aside from that wonderful 2-1 victory at Parkhead last season.
This time around instead of a struggling Hoops side led by Neil Lennon, they faced Ange Postecoglou’s league leaders.
It didn’t take long for the hosts to start dominating possession, but in fairness the Saints defence stood up to the challenge with aplomb and deservedly went into the half-time break level.
It was always going to be tough to repeat the feat after the break, especially with the kind of quality Celtic had to call on off the bench in the second half.
One trio of substitutes - Tom Rogic, James Forrest and Nir Bitton - had 128 international caps between them.
It’s always tough for clubs outside the Old Firm to compete with that sort of squad depth, and in the end the Hoops did manage to break through the Buddies impressive defence.
Robinson and his side can take great heart from the manner of the goals though. The new gaffer was right to point out that they weren’t cut open easily for either.
Both fell fortuitously for Celtic players after crosses into the box, and on another day they could easily have broken to a red shirt and been cleared away from danger.
While the Hoops were undeniably the better side on Wednesday night, it was far from a demoralising drubbing which could prove to be pivotal heading into a crucial duo of away games over the next five days.
St Mirren are still desperate to break into the top six, and with a cigarette’s paper width of difference between Livingston in fourth and Aberdeen in tenth, these next two trips to face Ross County and Dundee couldn’t be more significant for the Saints.
A win against Ross County would send the Paisley club three points above the Staggies in the table, and likely into the top six depending how other results play out on Saturday.
They then face Dundee at Dens Park next Wednesday, in their crucial game in hand on the rest of the top half hopefuls.
If St Mirren manage to win both of these games they are guaranteed to be sitting in the top six heading into their Scottish Cup quarter-final clash with Hearts next weekend.
That would be a brilliant position to find themselves in, especially with just three more Premiership fixtures to come after that - which will decide whether or not the top six dream finally becomes a reality this season.
The return of star striker Eamonn Brophy from injury heading into the business end of the season could be decisive.
Last time around he was ruled out of the run in before the split, which ultimately cost Jim Goodwin’s goal-shy Buddies as they missed out on goal difference alone.
Perhaps this time around Brophy and new acquisition Alex Greive will provide the firepower to finally push the Saints over the line and make Tony Fitzpatrick’s top six ambition a reality.
What a wonderful and timely retirement gift that would be for a man who has dedicated so much of his life to St Mirren.
