'It's my job to be realist & let everyone else dream'

Just a few years ago, a European adventure would have been a flight of fancy for St Mirren fans, yet some are now confident of consecutive qualifications.

While Stephen Robinson's side have slipped to eighth, the league is so compact that they are just four points off fifth.

"We're still in a very good position," Robinson said. "We are a couple of points off the top six.

"If somebody had said to us at the start of the season, you'd be two points off top six with all the off-field problems that we had, a run in Europe which takes its toll on every club, then we all would have snapped their hand off."

However, it is up to Robinson to make sure his staff and players focus on the task at hand.

"It's my job to keep people real and put a little bit of realism into the job and the club, and it's for everybody else to dream," he said.

"But certainly, I don't see no reason why, if we can kick on again and bring certain players that we're trying to get in to push us forward, that we can't get top six again.

"It's a crazy league. It's about who can put a little run together and we proved we can do that."

Last summer will be looked back upon fondly for years in Paisley, with a trip to Iceland to play Valur followed by a visit to Norway where they lost to Brann.

"When you've overachieved for three years as a group of players, then you're punching above your weight, and people that think that is the weight that you are, but it's not," Robinson added.

"We're a small club still fighting to be a top-six club and get our infrastructure in place and every day we're trying to do that.

"And this group of boys, hopefully aided by a couple of new signings, I'm confident we'll push on into the second half of the season."