KILTIE HAPPY TO HELP EASE THE PRESSURE ON ROBINSON

GREG KILTIE admits he was delighted to ease the strain affecting Stephen Robinson’s St Mirren reign with a vital winner in Perth. Kiltie finished an Alex Greive cutback in the 53rd minute to shift the Paisley men eight points clear of 11th-placed St Johnstone. Robinson had won only one of eight previous Premiership games since replacing Jim Goodwin, but a strong display at McDiarmid Park took them to the brink of safety. ‘It was a hard run we were on and no one likes to be in it — the gaffer or the players — it’s not nice for anyone in the club,’ said Kiltie. ‘So to get such a big win, I was delighted for him. I was delighted with the goal, although I didn’t really care

who scored it, to be honest with you — as long as someone put it in the back of the net. Alex missed a chance early on... and you start to think are we not going to be able to score. But we kept at it; that was the thing today. We kept going and I thought we played really well. ‘I think you saw that we started well. We didn’t go into the game with any nerves. ‘In fact, we went into it with confidence and we took it from there. When you start like that, you just grow into the game. Everyone played their part.’ Kiltie also explained why he ran to the technical area after scoring — only to be snubbed by winger Jay Henderson. ‘I travel with wee Hendo and he said to me that I would shank one into the ground and score,’ smiled Kiltie. ‘He said if I did, he would come and celebrate it with me — but he didn’t. He must have been too busy doing something else!’