Booster for boss as Alex season isn’t over

Stephen Robinson is relieved key striker Alex Greive will return to action before the end of the season.

The New Zealand international hobbled off with an ankle problem during St Mirren’s Scottish Cup clash with Celtic last weekend.

Buddies boss Robinson feared the 23-year-old, who has bagged three Premiership goals so far this campaign, would be ruled out until the summer.

But scans have revealed he will return to the fold sooner than anticipated – which comes as a big boost in light of the Saints’ growing injury list.

Robinson said: “It is probably the only positive news we have had on the injury front to be honest.

“We are hoping it will not be quite so serious, but it will still be three weeks. We were fearing it could maybe be an end-of-season job.

“But we are looking at three to four weeks with Alex. So that is a huge boost for us considering we don’t have loads of options up front.”

Robinson is looking for a reaction from his Buddies this afternoon against Ross County after an abject defeat to Motherwell on Wednesday night. He wants St Mirren TURN TO PAGE 23

Marcus: We’ll be talking top 6 if we can be great in next 8 games

Marcus Fraser is urging his team-mates to grab precious points before they run out of games to boost their tally as they chase a historic top-six finish.

Having won just two of their last nine games in the Premiership, nearest challengers Aberdeen and St Johnstone have managed to slowly close the gap on the Buddies who currently sit sixth.

Like many of his fellow Buddies, Fraser has experienced a top-half finish with his former club Ross County – who visit the SMiSA Stadium this afternoon.

And the determined defender knows how important it is to strike while the iron’s hot before chances to boost their hopes of a top-half finish quickly disappear.

Fraser told Express Sport: “There’s eight games to the split now and they’ll go by very quickly.

“After the Ross County game there’s only seven left and they chip away fast.

“We need to put things right on Saturday. If we get a win it would be massive going into those last seven games.

“We know what we need to do and thankfully it’s still in our hands. We’re not chasing anyone. We know if we get the wins on the board then we’ll be in the top-six.

“I made it there once [with Ross County], the season we won the cup. Hopefully the experience we’ve got in the squad will help.

“There are a lot of boys in our dressing room who have done it so we need to keep that positive frame of mind going.

“This weekend it’s about hitting the reset button. We’re at home, we’ve got all our fans behind us and we need to get back to winning ways.

“It’s a massive game for us and to have a successful season you need to be able to

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