St Mirren's Stephen Robinson 'admirer' of Stuart Kettlewell ahead of Motherwell clash

The Buddies boss, who went unbeaten last season against his former side, said that he likes the way the Steelmen have been playing.

Stephen Robinson is a big fan of Stuart Kettlewell’s brand of free flowing football but he won’t be sitting back to admire Motherwell’s silky soccer as he plots their Fir Park downfall.

Kettlewell has Motherwell in fine form with the Steelmen only beaten twice this season in all competitions.

And Robbo, predicts a thriller when he takes his own in-form side to North Lanarkshire on Saturday afternoon.

“There’s nothing between the two teams,” the Northern Irishman said. “I like Stuart’s team, even when they weren’t winning games last season I enjoyed watching them.

“And they’ve started the season really well. It is a tough task, a hard place to go to. Usually it’s a mistake that wins these games rather than a bit of brilliance between two very similar sides.”

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St Mirren were unbeaten against Motherwell last season, winning twice and drawing two. The Buddies won 1-0 at the SMiSA Stadium in the Premier Sports Cup thanks to a goal from Caolan Boyd-Munce. Scott Tanser’s goal was enough a few weeks later to secure a 1-0 victory at Fir Park in league action. The other two matches, both in the league, ended 0-0 and 1-1.

And the St Mirren manager believes that if his side can pick up “six or seven points” from teams like Motherwell, finishing above them is more likely.

He added: “We say to the boys these games, if we can take six or seven points off teams like Motherwell, you’ll usually finish above them. “They’re the type of team we’re competing for that top six spot with. We are three unbeaten now, we’ve played well in patches.

“We were excellent in the second half against Hearts. Weren’t great in the first half, although we’re creating and scoring goals. Defensively, we’ve been punished for individual decisions in terms of set play decisions. It’s a chance to build on that run in two games before the international break.

“For me, it’s been a fantastic start considering the opposition we’ve had. We’ve played everyone in the top six last year and an Aberdeen side that hasn’t dropped any points. We’re sitting in fifth with a European run behind us. Now we want to build on that start.”

The Buddies will be without Alex Iacovitti, Greg Kiltie, Conor McMenamin and Shaun Rooney in North Lanarkshire.

Robinson also says that Richard Taylor recently saw a surgeon with the upcoming international break potentially being a date when the defender will have surgery for a hernia.

Young defender Luke Kenny was also close to reportedly going out on loan but will now stay at the Paisley team due to a lack of defensive cover.

He said: “We have Richard Taylor needing surgery, big Yak (Alex Iacovitti) injured until November, December. Kenny was due to go on loan for game time as well but we may have to hold that back now. It’s not ideal.

“Richard saw the surgeon, he definitely needs it. It’s when we have the surgery. Potentially, we’ve pencilled in the international break that’s coming up - or the one in November. But the risk is he breaks down long before that and misses a lot more games. It’s a tough decision.”

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