St Mirren vs Kilmarnock; Scottish Premiership
St Mirren vs Kilmarnock. Scottish Premiership.
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St Mirren vs Kilmarnock preview: Saints aim to extend unbeaten run
Watch live on Sky Sports Football from 7.30pm on Monday
Monday 11 March 2019 19:57, UK
St Mirren will be looking to continue their recent revival when they face Kilmarnock in the Scottish Premiership on Monday, live on Sky Sports.
Saints have boosted their survival hopes with two draws and a win from their last three matches.
They remain bottom of the table but are one point behind second-from-bottom Dundee and four behind 10th-placed Hamilton.
Manager Oran Kearney says the team have been lifted by their win over Livingston in their last match.
"If we hadn't won then I'm not sure we would have the added value from the previous two draws. It was great to get that result and to give everyone a lift.
"I'm not sure there is a good time to play them [Kilmarnock]. From the research I've done on them, they've been one of the most consistent teams in Scotland over the past 18 months.
"What's crystal clear from our point of view is that we need to be absolutely on it if we're going to get something from the game. They beat us 2-1 earlier in the season where we had a cracking first half and they fought back with a cracking second half to win the game.
"What I want is a complete performance where we do the business for 90 minutes."
Kilmarnock are fourth in the table and will close the gap to third-placed Aberdeen to one point if they win.
However, Steve Clarke's side are on an eight-match winless run in all competitions.
Opta stats
- After losing their first four Scottish Premiership home games against Kilmarnock between July 2000 and March 2007, St. Mirren have since lost just three of their last 15 such games against them in the competition (W7 D5).
- Kilmarnock have won six of their last seven league games against St. Mirren, losing the other 4-1 in April 2015.
- St. Mirren, 1-0 winners over Livingston last time out, haven't won back-to-back top-flight matches since May 2015; however, they haven't won a Scottish Premiership match on a Monday since April 2007 (2-0 v Falkirk), drawing three and losing six of nine such games on this day since.
- Kilmarnock are without a win in six league games (D3 L3), their longest such run since September 2017, when they went 10 without victory.
- Kilmarnock have only managed to win one of their last 14 away matches against newly promoted sides in the Scottish Premiership (D8 L5), although this was a 2-1 win at St. Mirren in October 2018.