Robbo: Don’t Toy with us Neil

Greg Kiltie insists St Mirren don’t want to be relying on any pre-split favours when it comes to clinching a top-six finish.

The Buddies are homing in on a place among this season’s Premiership elite and enjoy a gap of eight points to Hibernian in seventh with five games remaining.

But Kiltie knows the job isn’t done and pointed to last term’s final matchday before the split, when Saints made it despite losing to Kilmarnock, after fellow challengers Livingston failed to win at Dundee United.

That’s all the motivation Stephen Robinson’s men need to avoid any slip-ups with another chance to cement their spot coming at home to Aberdeen today.

Kiltie said:“We’re in the final five games before the split so we want to have enough points for us to be secured in the top six.

“We don’t want to be doing what we did last year and losing on the last day and for someone else to be doing it for us.

“The first hurdle is getting enough points for the top six. After that, you start to look at other things that can be achieved.

“We finished sixth last year but every season you want to improve.

“With the resources we have compared to other teams in the league, it would be a great achievement to have back-to-back top six finishes.

“The gaffer says we set out at the start to stay up but now you’ve got to admit that we’ve put ourselves in a position where we want to be in the top six.”

The Dons arrive at the

SMiSA looking over their shoulders at a potential fight to beat the drop having gone nine league games without a victory. However, Kiltie is adamant that fortunes can change very quickly in Scotland’s top flight.

The 27-year-old said:“We want to go into the game confident and do what we’ve been doing at home but we have to remember Aberdeen have very good players.

“They’re not on the best run but in this league that can change. We have to be prepared for what they’re going to bring. We will focus on ourselves. It’s a big game for us.”

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T-shirt. He said:“That is a very experienced manager’s comment. He’s gone into his dressing room and said that in an effort to get his team to prove everybody wrong. We won’t buy into that. We know what talent they’ve got. [Bojan] Miovski alone is a huge threat and we need to play better than we did on Tuesday night [at Ross County].

“We had lots of possession and ground out a result but we know we’re better than that and we know we’ll have to be at our best to beat Aberdeen.

“They have spent a lot of money putting together a good squad and have talented players. They’ve had a disappointing recent run of results but we know that can be turned around very quickly with the talent they have.

“Neil is a very experienced manager. He’s been in these situations many, many times. He’s kept many clubs up and got many promoted. So, this won’t faze him at all.”

Robbo has huge respect for Warnock and his longevity in the game – and told how the 75-year-old recommended he sign Toyosi Olusanya. It’s a move that has paid off big time with Olusanya yesterday signing a one-year contract extension at the SMiSA.

“My only real dealings with him were over Toyosi when he was very good to take our calls and give us some good information about him,”Robbo recalled.“It has worked out well with Toyosi earning a new deal. He deserves it.

“He’s 26 but still like a 21-year-old in terms of learning and improving.

“He’s certainly a big asset for this football club and I believe tying him down is a good piece of business.”

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