INJURY BLOWS FOR BUDDIES IN EURO HUNT
ST MIRREN have been dealt a blow in their battle for a European place, with striker Alex Greive and midfielder Ryan Flynn set to miss the final three games through injury. The Paisley men are currently in sixth spot, three points behind Hibs and four behind Hearts, but their cause won’t be helped by the duo’s absence. Stephen Robinson, whose team travel to Celtic today, said: ‘Alex won’t be available — Curtis Main is our only fit senior striker — and neither will Ryan, both ankle ligament injuries. Both will be a struggle to play any more football this season. It is not major injuries but we are probably looking at two to three weeks for both of them. It’s a blow because Tony (Watt) has already gone back to (parent club) Dundee United injured and Jonah (Ayunga) is injured, so we are quite short up front. Lewis Jamieson and Kieran Offord will come into contention.’ The lack of personnel up front won’t help, but Robinson insists St Mirren will still have a go today despite heavy defeats against Celtic this term. The Buddies beat them 2-0 at home in September but have lost 4-0 and 5-1 in Glasgow — the latter in the Scottish Cup — and 5-1 in Paisley. They were devastated to drop two points last weekend when Lawrence Shankland scored a stoppage-time penalty to complete Hearts’ comeback in a 2-2 draw. But Robinson will only emphasise the positives to his players as they head for Parkhead. ‘It was a huge blow for us last weekend,’ he said, ‘but we felt sorry for ourselves, came back in on Monday and it was back to work. ‘These things happen in football. We deserved to win the game, we had enough chances. ‘There are a lot of positives but what stays in your mind is the last 20 seconds. ‘Now we have to do it the hard way. We need to get points in the next two games and try to take it down to the last game against Rangers, that we still have a chance. ‘We will go (to Celtic Park) with a real positive attitude. I’m not going to sit back and lose 1-0. If we have a right go at it and get beat 3-0 or 4-0, then so be it.’