St. Mirren seek to end five-game losing run against Dundee FC
St. Mirren have lost five in a row and scored twice. Dundee FC arrive unbeaten in three. A look at the form and what PLZ members expect.
By Harvey Watkins,
St. Mirren go into Saturday's meeting with Dundee FC at The SMISA Stadium on a run of five straight defeats. Over those five matches they have scored two goals and conceded fourteen. Dundee FC, by contrast, have lost once in their last five and are unbeaten in three. On form alone this looks one-sided, but the detail behind St. Mirren's run is more mixed than the bare sequence suggests.
St. Mirren's run in detail
The five defeats split into two kinds. The earlier ones were close. St. Mirren lost 2-1 at home to Celtic on 5 September and 1-0 away to Rangers four days later. Single-goal defeats against those two sides are not where a team's problems usually lie.
The three since have been heavier. Dundee United won 3-0 in Paisley on 19 September, Hearts won 5-0 on 10 October, and Aberdeen won 3-1 last weekend. That is eleven goals conceded in three matches. The goal at Pittodrie was St. Mirren's first in four games.
Both home games in the run were lost, so the venue offers no obvious comfort either. The fairest reading is that the narrow defeats were respectable, but the recent pattern of conceding often and scoring rarely is the more pressing concern.
Dundee FC's steadier form
Dundee FC's last five read drawn, won, won, lost, drawn, with the most recent first. They scored eight and conceded seven, which suggests a side that has been competitive without being dominant.
The most recent result stands out. A 2-2 home draw with Rangers on 17 October came after wins over Motherwell, 2-1 at home, and Falkirk, 2-1 away. Their only defeat in the run was a 2-1 loss at Hearts on 6 September, and they opened it with a 1-1 home draw against St. Johnstone.
They have scored in every one of those five matches, and four of the five finished with a one-goal margin or level. There is not much evidence of Dundee FC pulling away from opponents, but plenty of evidence that they stay in games.
How it might go
Dundee FC are the side in better shape, and St. Mirren's recent defensive record would make it difficult to argue otherwise. Still, five matches is a small sample. Dundee FC's results have been tight, and St. Mirren's defeats to Celtic and Rangers show they can keep matches close. My view is that the visitors are better placed, though a home side desperate to stop a losing run can make a match awkward, and a draw would not be a surprise.
What PLZ members are predicting
Twenty-six PLZ Soccer members have entered their predictions for this match in the PLZ Predictor. Of those, 58 per cent have gone for a Dundee FC win, 31 per cent for a draw and 12 per cent for a St. Mirren win. The most common scoreline is 1-2, chosen by 11 members. These are the views of our own readers rather than a forecast, and they reflect the same form described above rather than adding anything to it.