Yes, I know it's a bit rich for me to blog on another team's struggles, just after my own side has been given an absolute shellacking at the hands of Motherwell. I say that it was just one of those days where nothing goes right for one team and everything goes right for the other. You may say that Inverness were nowhere near as good as their lofty league position suggested and this is the start of a slump down the table. Tomatoe, tomato.
But I still think it's fair to say that the SPL result that caught the eye this weekend was at Dens Park, where any Hibs fan dreaming of an unlikely title challenge was given a ruder awakening than the guy in bed with the horse's head in The Godfather. (Incidentally, remind me to check the credits of that film, just to confirm that the horse's head was indeed played by a young Leigh Griffiths) It's only a month or so since I confidently proclaimed that Dundee's relegation was as certain as a Zimbabwean general election result. Cue victories over both Edinburgh sides, sandwiching a credible draw at Fir Park. Far from doomed, Barry Smith's side are now right back in the mix, only one point away from the side above them. To those of you who add this to the million and one reasons why no-one should ever believe anything I write on this blog, I reply thus - who's the bigger fool, the fool or the fool who wastes five minutes of his life every week reading my ill-thought out opinions?
I digress. Today's blog is not about Dundee again - it is about that team just a point ahead of them. That team is St. Mirren.
All was rosy in the Paisley garden (or would be, if that garden didn't contain mattresses and rubbish) at the end of September, after the Buddies managed to win by the odd goal in nine in a remarkable clash with Ross County at Love Street. The six games since then have produced a grand total of six defeats. There was brief respite with a shoot-out victory of Aberdeen in the quarter-finals of the League Cup...but the Dons subsequently got sweet revenge with a resounding 4-1 league win. St. Mirren had twelve points at the end of September, and were fourth in the table; nearly two months later, they still have twelve points. Nobody - not even Inverness - has conceded more goals in the SPL.
Having only narrowly missed out on the top six last season, this was supposed to be the year the Buddies pushed on. It's Danny Lennon's third year in charge, and all but three of the players are his signings, so he seemed to have put in place his philosophy of attractive, passing-based football. There was plenty of quality, ranging from highly-rated younger players such as Paul McGowan and Kenny McLean to battle-hardened veterans like captain Jim Goodwin and striker Steven Thompson.
So what's gone wrong? And is this a blip, or a sign that the club are heading inexorably in the wrong direction?
Dave McFarlane, St. Mirren fan, fellow SPL Podcast contributor and editor of Born Offside, tells me injuries haven't helped. Centre-back Darren McGregor succumbed to a second cruciate ligament injury, which has been a huge blow not just because he is the side's best defender, but because he organizes the back four - in short, "he is the difference between Marc McAusland (the other first choice central defender) looking like a competent SPL defender and a shaven baboon in a football shirt". The loss of McGowan, "our creative spark", has left a lack of options up front. In recent weeks Lennon has gone with Thompson and fellow target man (or, as Dave referred to him, "blimp") Sam Parkin up front - a tactical plan which doesn't really fit in with a slick passing game.
Dave remains convinced there is light at the end of the tunnel. "St. Mirren play fantastic crisp passing football , and we can outplay any team in the SPL when the players' minds are on it. While we're on a terrible run right now, the teams above us will eventually hit a bad patch too." He's certainly not losing much sleep over the threat of a relegation battle. "Dundee still look too poor to stay up and once suspensions/injuries kick in, I think they'll really struggle."
But is Danny Lennon, whose only managerial experience before this gig was at Cowdenbeath, capable of taking the Buddies forward? The fans are beginning to voice discontent at the boss, whose tendency to blame bad luck is becoming tired. "If he continues to act like a stubborn petuanlent child and say nothing is wrong, and it's all the fans fault etc etc then no. If(it's a big IF) Danny realises that things aren’t working as they are at the moment, finally takes feedback on board and tries to change things up a little, then he's earned the chance over his tenure to get us out of the current mire. Danny must learn from his mistakes and learn to accept that sometimes, just sometimes, we weren't the better team on the day, instead of making petty excuses."
A campaign that started with plenty of positivity is in danger of turning into a long hard slog. Are St. Mirren better than eleventh place suggests, or are they the team most likely to end up in a relegation scrap with Dundee? We'll know more after next Saturday...because the two sides clash at St. Mirren Park. If the home side crash to a seventh successive reverse, they might have to change the name of the ground to Panic Station.
L.
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