St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson looking for more bravery in the final third

Stephen Robinson is looking for a bit more bravery and creativity in the final third as his search for the first goal and point of his St Mirren reign goes into a fourth match.

Robinson has experienced defeats by Hearts, Celtic and Ross County since moving from Morecambe.

The former Motherwell manager welcomes Connor Ronan back from suspension for Wednesday’s trip to Dundee after the on-loan midfielder was sent off early on against Hearts, who Saints face again in the Scottish Cup on Saturday.

St Mirren can put themselves level on points with sixth-placed County but will also be wary of cinch Premiership bottom club Dundee looking to cut the gap on them to seven points.

Robinson said: “It’s certainly vital. We haven’t picked up the points we wanted so – putting the Hearts game on top of that – it’s a huge four or five days for us.

“With the league as it is, you are not far off the bottom three and not far off the top six.

“We were disappointing on Saturday. We had 60 per cent possession but it’s been a problem long before I took over in terms of creativity and scoring goals and that was evident on Saturday.

“We played a lot in front of Ross County. I saw things I was pleased with in terms of ownership of the game and style of play but we got to a certain point in the pitch and lacked that bit of spark and invention.

“We have got players that can do it, we have got the creativity, it’s just giving the boys that platform and confidence to go and do it.

“It’s just about being a little bit braver in the final third and a little bit of luck always helps.

“The big plus for me is Connor Ronan being available again, I think he has a huge part to play in terms of creativity and scoring goals.

“And also Eamonn Brophy. Eamonn has not been fit since I came into the club and we are hoping he is getting close to full fitness now.”

The Dundee game was postponed for a second time two weeks ago, on the day after Robinson was appointed, but his early schedule has otherwise been full.

“We have only had four days of actual work, with modern-day footballers needing second-day recoveries and massages and all the stuff that comes with being a modern footballer,” he said.

“We have implemented certain things and hopefully they come to fruition on Wednesday.”

Robinson faces another newly-installed manager and a former mentor in Mark McGhee, who he served as assistant boss at Fir Park.

“They have a very good manager in Mark McGhee,” he said. “You don’t get close to 1,000 league games without knowing what you are doing.

“He will have them really well organised. I watched the game at Motherwell on Saturday and they were hard to break down. They have got a lot of pace with (Paul) McMullan to break with as well.”