'Saints now at hinge point in season after much-needed win'

After winning at Pittodrie just once in 37 league meetings between 1987 and 2022, last Saturday's excellent 3-0 victory marked St Mirren's third victory there in three seasons and further cements their status as a real bogey team for the Dons.

An opener from Toyosi Olusanya was followed up by a double from Mikael Mandron, who tripled his goal tally for the season in the space of 90 minutes, and piled the misery on Jimmy Thelin's side.

This was a trademark, textbook Stephen Robinson performance, and a much-needed one coming off the back of four straight league defeats.

Despite having just 26% possession the Saints never looked in much danger of losing this one, and picked their moments perfectly – albeit aided by some slapstick defending at times.

However, as comical as Olusanya's opener was, Mandron's game-sealing goal was a moment of sheer class, striking first-time into the far corner to send three points back to Paisley and thousands of Aberdeen fans home.

And having dealt with train cancellations, red weather warnings and some of the worst weather the country has seen in years, it would prove (once again) to be a worthwhile trip for the travelling Buddies.

As we all know, this has been a messy Scottish Premiership season, with most of the middle of the table struggling to find any form or consistency. St Mirren are no exception, but up next is a home game against basement team St Johnstone and a real opportunity to start looking up the table rather than down.

The Paisley Saints have defeated their Perth namesakes twice this season, but came from behind in both, and required a 99th-minute Roland Idowu penalty in Perth in December to secure a dramatic victory.

Saturday is the Saints' first of three successive home games, as they welcome both sides of Edinburgh to Renfrewshire in back-to-back weekends.

This run of games really looks like a hinge point of the season as Robinson's men aim to move upwards in the league and progress in the Scottish Cup.

Only time will tell, but Saturday's performance was a great example of this St Mirren team at their best: hard to break down and clinical on the break. A few more performances like that and we can dream of more European adventures next season.

Billy Hogg can be found at Misery Hunters