Preview: St Mirren vs. Ross County - prediction, team news, lineups

Stephen Robinson's side are sitting in the final Championship Group position, while the Staggies are in 11th place with the disadvantage of playing one more game than last-placed Dundee United.

Match preview

St Mirren are in sixth position in the first phase of the 2022-23 Scottish Premiership standings, despite losing more matches - 10 - than they have been victorious in.

Robinson's side have been successful in only two of their previous five league matches, including being on the losing side in their last two league outings.

Turning their attention to the fifth round of the Scottish Cup last weekend, St Mirren were helpless to prevent a five-star showcase in front of goal from Celtic, sending Ange Postecoglou's side into the quarter-final stage to face Hearts in this season's competition. To make the visitors' journey worse, defender Richard Taylor was shown a straight red card by referee Steven McLean with a quarter-hour left to play in regular time.

Hoping to return to winning ways, Robinson's side once again suffered the unpleasant taste of defeat on their footballing palates after coming up short against Motherwell - 2-1 - at Fir Park on Wednesday evening.

Only defending Scottish Premiership champions Celtic, second-placed Rangers and Livingston have conceded fewer goals than St Mirren throughout the current league season - 35 - so a low-scoring affair could be on the cards at the SMISA Stadium this weekend.

Ross County are at risk of plying their trade in the Scottish Championship for the first time since the 2018-19 campaign after registering only one victory in their last 10 league matches.

Malky Mackay's side registered that aforementioned win in a comfortable 3-0 success over Kilmarnock on January 28, but the Staggies' 20 goals are the fewest number of occasions that a side has found the back of the net across the division in the 2022-23 league campaign.

Ross County finished in fifth position after the first phase of the 2021-22 Scottish Premiership campaign, eventually concluding the season in sixth position inside the Championship Group places. Nonetheless, the Dingwall-based outfit side have struggled to produce a replica of that form in the previous few months.

The Staggies added to their league-high of 14 defeats on February 4, as goals from Malik Tillman and Borna Barisic proved enough for Rangers to take all three points against Mackay's strugglers at the Ibrox Stadium.

With only one defeat in their previous four meetings, Ross County will be confident of extending their one-sided historical record come to the final whistle at 5pm on Saturday, but will need to score their first goal across the last four home head-to-head encounters to be able to accomplish that.

St Mirren Scottish Premiership form:

D

L

L

W

W

L

St Mirren form (all competitions):

L

W

W

W

L

L

Ross County Scottish Premiership form:

D

L

D

W

D

L

Ross County form (all competitions):

L

D

L

W

D

L

Team News

After a hat-trick of defeats across all competitions, St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson could contemplate making changes to his starting XI for the visit of Ross County to the SMISA Stadium.

Following his withdrawal in the defeat against Motherwell, on the back of failing to again open his goalscoring account for the 2022-23 campaign for his temporary employers, Dundee United loanee Tony Watt could be replaced by Lewis Jamieson on the Buddies' opening team sheet.

On the back of his consolation goal on Wednesday evening, Ryan Strain is expected to start in a midfield five alongside Keanu Baccus, Alex Gogic, Mark O'Hara and Scott Tanser.

There could also be alterations in Ross County's starting XI after their defeat at Rangers at the Ibrox Stadium.

If boss Malky Mackay does decide to freshen up his side, attacking assets Josh Sims and Simon Murray could be restored from the substitutes' bench to the Staggies' opening lineup.

St Mirren possible starting lineup:

Carson; Fraser, Gallagher, Taylor; Strain, Gogic, Baccus, O'Hara, Tanser; Main, Jamieson

Ross County possible starting lineup:

Laidlaw; Watson, Baldwin, Iacovitti; Randall, Loturi, Kenneh, Harmon; Murray, Sims, White

We say: St Mirren 2-0 Ross County

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