Match Preview: St Mirren

St Mirren  V  Raith Rovers The Paisley 2021 Stadium Tuesday 22nd March 2016 Kick off: 7.45pm

  Admission Information: 

Adult – £20
OAP (over 65) – £10
Child (Under 18) – £10
Child (Under 12) – £5
Wheelchair User – £10* Carer – FREE

*The ‘Wheelchair user’ ticket is only available to purchase directly from the Ticket Office.

Tickets that were bought for the original fixture date of 16th January are still valid for the rescheduled match.

Match Preview:

Raith Rovers head to the Paisley 2021 Stadium this Tuesday evening, hoping to take a significant step towards the play-offs, by moving ten points clear of fifth placed Morton, with victory over St. Mirren.

Both teams go into the match in fine fettle, with St. Mirren buoyed by two wins from their last two, while Raith are unbeaten in four, after Saturday night’s excellent 2-1 win over Hibernian, thanks to a solid defensive performance, allied to goals from Lewis Toshney and Mark Stewart. Stewart’s goal continued his productive spell of recent weeks, with the forward plundering five goals from his last seven appearances, taking his tally for the season to eleven.

St. Mirren however have their own in-form striker, in the shape of Lawrence Shankland. The on-loan Aberdeen player may not have scored with the regularity of Stewart in recent weeks, but his goal-of-the-season contender on Saturday, his second in the Buddies 3-2 win over Livingston, suggests the 20-year-old is finding some fine form.

That’s also true of the team in general since Alex Rae assumed the management role, and incredibly, their most recent home victory, a 2-1 win over Queen of the South, meant that Rae had more home wins in the league than the last three St. Mirren managers, Tommy Craig, Gary Teale and Ian Murray combined.

The Paisley outfit are yet to lose a home game this calendar year, although Rovers did manage to inflict one in 2015, thanks to a late winner from Grant Anderson. James Craigen had put Rovers into the lead in the first-half, but a Shankland equaliser in the final moments of the opening period had saw the sides go in level at half time.

The two meetings at Stark’s Park this season have also saw drama and late goals. Mark Stewart put Raith ahead in a midweek match in November, only for Steve Mallan to equalise with an exquisite free-kick in injury time, but that was nothing compared to the excitement the last time the sides met at the beginning of this month.

A hat-trick from Ryan Hardie and a strike from Mark Stewart had given Rovers a seemingly unassailable 4-1 lead, but late goals from Keith Watson, who managed two on the day, and David Clarkson, led to a tense, fraught finale, with Raith holding on for a 4-3 win.

If Raith avoid defeat on Tuesday, it’ll be the first time they’ve went unbeaten against St. Mirren for an entire season since the 1997-98 campaign. a term which saw Rovers pick up twelve points out of twelve against the Buddies.

The current good form against St. Mirren means that the recent head-to-head record is all square, with four wins apiece from the last ten meetings.

The referee for the match will be Barry Cook

Head-to-Head League Record at Paisley:

St. Mirren Wins: 29 | Raith Rovers Wins: 13 | Draws: 14

St. Mirren Goals: 109 | Raith Rovers Goals: 69

Current Form:

St. Mirren: W-L-D-L-W-W

Raith Rovers: W-L-W-W-D-W

Top Goalscorers:

St. Mirren: Steve Mallan 11 | Lawrence Shankland 8

Raith Rovers: Mark Stewart 11 | James Craigen 6 | Kyle Benedictus 4 | Ryan Hardie 4

Match Odds:

St. Mirren: 11/8 | Raith Rovers: 19/10 | Draw: 5/2

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