St Mirren and Partick Thistle meet over two matches to decide who will be in the Scottish Premiership next season, with the first leg starting on Thursday night at Firhill. The second-bottom side from the top flight begin as favourites, but the Championship runners-up have already shown they can handle pressure on the way here.
Partick finished second in the Championship, then beat Dunfermline Athletic 3-2 on aggregate in the semi-final to reach this stage. That kept alive their bid to return to the top flight after an eight-year absence. St Mirren, meanwhile, are trying to extend their own eight-year stay in the Premiership after a season that ended in 11th place and left them in the play-off.
The size of the task on both sides is sharpened by what has happened in recent months. St Mirren won the League Cup in December, beating Celtic in the Premier Sports Cup final for their second League Cup title, yet still slid into danger in the league. Their collapse at the end of the regular season was plain: four defeats in a row without scoring, and a total of 10 fewer goals than Livingston by the time the campaign was done.
Stephen Robinson had steadied the club over a four-year era that brought three top-six finishes, but he left for Aberdeen in March when St Mirren were 10th. Interim manager Craig McLeish took over and has won three of his 10 games in charge. His side have at least shown enough to suggest they are not out of control, with a win over Aberdeen and a draw against Dundee United among the more recent results.
McLeish said he had been given the job because he was seen as “the best person to take the club forward”, while also conceding that “the results maybe haven't gone our way and ultimately it wasn't enough to avoid a play-off spot”. He added that St Mirren do not look “like a team that are lost or don't know what they're doing or are low in confidence.”
Partick pushed eventual winners St Johnstone all the way in the Championship title race before finishing 11 points behind them and 15 clear of third-placed Arbroath. That was enough to earn a route into this final, and their home leg at Firhill gives them a chance to build an advantage before the tie turns toward Paisley for the return. St Mirren will still be expected to take control on paper because they come from the Premiership and have the second leg at home, but their league form leaves them with little room to breathe. For Partick, the chance to end an eight-year wait is real; for St Mirren, the reward for a hard winter could still be a familiar fight to stay up.
