St Mirren have dropped to second bottom spot in the Scottish Premiership after a 1-0 defeat by Dundee in Dens Park.
Kilmarnock have jumped above after their win over Dundee United, setting up a showdown in Paisley next Saturday.
Image source, SNSSt Mirren interim manager Craig McLeish suggests a lack of goals has been his side's problem all season and haunted them again in their 1-0 defeat by Dundee at Dens Park.
"Another sore result," he told BBC Scotland. "I don't think we will have come here often and dominated so much of the game.
"It is sore for the boys. The boys have given everything.
"There are bodies hanging together there. There are bodies playing with pain and injuries and people playing when they probably shouldn't be playing.
"I can't ask any more of them. It is the bit in the final third that we've been searching for all season and we're still searching for it - and that's the bit that can make the difference. The way we are playing probably deserves more from what we are taking.
"Next game [at home to Kilmarnock] was always going to be massive. We have to win now. We are up for the fight."
Image source, SNSDundee have a doubt over Scott Wright while Clark Robertson (thigh) is likely to remain sidelined.
Marcus Fraser has declared himself available for St Mirren six weeks after shoulder surgery and Liam Donnelly returns.
Saints have lost Jonah Ayunga to a serious knee injury, while Dan Nlundulu remains out along with goalkeepers Ryan Mullen (thigh) and Shamal George (ankle), winger Malik Dijksteel (groin) and midfielder Keanu Baccus.
Image source, SNSMarcus Fraser is set to ignore doctor's advice and rush back from injury in an effort to help St Mirren's survival battle.
The defender's season appeared to be over after he suffered a dislocated shoulder and then underwent surgery in mid-March, but interim manager Craig McLeish revealed the 31-year-old has made himself available to face Dundee on Saturday.
The Buddies are just two points above second-bottom Kilmarnock with four games to go, starting at Dens Park.
"We just need to be careful with him because he's not at the bit yet where the specialist is happy with how his injury's properly healed," McLeish said.
"He's probably a couple of weeks away for that. The type of boy Marcus is, he's made himself available for selection and he's happy to take part and contribute.
"We can't have enough people like that around the building. It's a fantastic attitude. He's a big personality around the place, he's a big part of our group.
"He's been training now for maybe two weeks, where we've had to be careful with him and be non-contact.
"He's seen the specialist and, I don't mind saying this, he's been advised not to play for the rest of the season, but he's happy to be involved and take a little bit of that risk on as well.
"That's now up to me to balance that, but just his attitude and his willingness to be there and fight with us, that has to spread around the group as well."
Fraser's potential return comes after Jonah Ayunga suffered cruciate ligament damage for the second time in his St Mirren career, and his second major injury of the season, with his contract set to expire.
"We all feel for him," McLeish said. "He's been through it before. It's his other knee this time but it's the same injury, so it's like a double-edged sword.
"He knows that he can come back from it and he can come back strong, but he also knows what he now faces, a lengthy time out and frustrating periods through rehab."
St Mirren remain without goalkeeper Shamal George, which means loan signing Ross Sinclair will continue in the team at Dens Park.
The 24-year-old is determined to seize his unexpected opportunity after sitting on the bench throughout St Johnstone's Championship title-winning season and with his contract due to expire.
Sinclair said: "It gives me an opportunity to play games to hopefully show people what I can do and then we can take my career from there.
"Hopefully, something comes at St Johnstone but if something doesn't come at St Johnstone then hopefully it puts me in the shop window, worst case scenario. I will just focus on the job I need to do here at St Mirren."
Image source, SNSAlex Gogic scored an own goal in St Mirren's 2-0 defeat to Livingston
Former St Mirren striker Rory Loy thinks losing at home to bottom side Livingston has knocked the Buddies' confidence heading into the final four games.
Livingston had only won one game this season, back in August, before they triumphed 2-0 in Paisley last weekend thanks to an Alex Gogic own goal and Scott Pittman's late strike.
Given that Kilmarnock lost at Aberdeen, St Mirren remain two points above the Rugby Park side in the relegation play-off spot as they prepare for Saturday's game at Dundee.
But Loy believes the loss to Livi is a worrying sign for Craig McLeish's injury-hit side.
"This is going to sound disrespectful to Livingston, and I don't mean it this way, but they hadn't won a game since August," he told the BBC's Scottish Football Podcast.
"You don't want to be the team that loses to Livingston.
"Everyone's looking to see who they'll beat, who they'll finally get that win against, and that's not to say they haven't deserved a few wins along the way between August and now, but everyone looks at it and thinks who's going to be the team [that loses].
"Not only that, it was at home as well. St Mirren's foundations have been built with good home form over the last few seasons.
"Going to Paisley, has been notoriously difficult over the last three years. They've taken points off Rangers, Celtic, Hibs, Hearts, you name it.
"So to lose to Livingston at home in such a precarious position already was damaging. Alarm bells will be ringing if they get beat this weekend."
David Currie
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter
So St Mirren have extended the emergency loan of St Johnstone goalkeeper Ross Sinclair. Good. Shamal George is still recovering from an ankle injury and Ryan Mullen is out for the foreseeable.
Now, if only there was provision to bring in crisis cover for Alex Gogic. The Cypriot force of nature is out for half of the Buddies' remaining fixtures as they battle relegation.
Goga picked up his 14th yellow card of the season in the home defeat by Livingston and will be absent then for the matches away to Dundee and at home to Kilmarnock. He will be missed.
So will League Cup final hero Jonah Ayunga, who was carried off on a stretcher in the same game with an ACL injury and is out long term.
While we're at it, the man who opened the scoring in the League Cup final win over Celtic - Marcus Fraser - is also out for the remainder of the campaign. Australia international Keanu Baccus won't be seen again this term either.
Slings and arrows of outrageous fortune over which interim manager Craig McLeish had no control. If he can keep St Mirren in the Premiership under such circumstances you'd have to say he'd deserve a crack at the gig in the longer term.
Even though there was no European football for St Mirren this season, with two cup runs it's been a marathon and it could be said St Mirren are running out of puff – or at least personnel.
The perils of running with a smallish squad through financial necessity I guess.
But let's not dwell on the negative. The sun is shining, the birds are singing and St Mirren still have a two-point lead over Kilmarnock and superior goal difference.
Plus, a win over Dundee by a margin of two goals will lift the Buddies into the sunny uplands of ninth place, setting things up nicely for the visit of Kilmarnock a week on Saturday.
See Killie off then and Premiership survival will be in sight.
It could happen. St Mirren are enjoying more possession and creating more chances (17 shots at goal against Livingston) so maybe they just need a fortunate bounce of the ball, or a kindly VAR intervention here and there. But every club in the mire is hoping for the same.
There's no doubt the Paisley side are 'circling the drain', but even if St Mirren do get sucked down the Premiership plughole, Buddies will always have 14 December and the League Cup final to look back on. So even if the worst happens the season won't have been a complete washout.
Image source, SNSOnly Motherwell's Ibrahim Said (38) has created more chances without yet providing an assist in the Scottish Premiership this season than Dundee's Yan Dhanda (35).
Dundee have won their past two Scottish Premiership home games against St Mirren, as many as their previous 10 against the Buddies in the top flight beforehand (W2 D3 L5).
St Mirren have only won one of their past six league meetings with Dundee (D2 L3), a 1-0 victory in September this season.
Dundee have lost three of their past four league games (D1), as many as their previous 12 beforehand (W5 D4 L3).
Over their past 10 Scottish Premiership matches, St Mirren have picked up just seven points (W2 D1 L7), the fewest of any side in the competition.
Image source, SNSGoalkeeper Ross Sinclair will remain at St Mirren on another seven-day emergency loan from St Johnstone.
The 24-year-old joined last week and started in the Buddies' 2-0 defeat to Livingston.
It was the goalkeeper's first appearance since May 2025 when St Johnstone were last in the Scottish Premiership.
St Mirrren's first-choice keeper Shamal George remains on the sidelines while back-up Ryan Mullen is out for at least three months with a thigh tear sustained in the Scottish Cup semi-final loss to Celtic.
Image source, SNSSt Mirren have confirmed forward Jonah Ayunga suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury during last Saturday's defeat to Livingston.
The 28-year-old Kenya international was taken off on a stretcher in the second half of the 2-0 loss.
"Jonah ruptured the ACL in his right knee," said the club.
"The 28-year-old will undergo surgery in the coming weeks and he will have our full support.
"Everyone at St Mirren wishes Jonah the very best in his recovery."
Ayunga, who is out of contract at the end of the season, previously ruptured his ACL in January 2023, spending 10 months on the sidelines.
He joined the Paisley club four years ago and was a Hampden hero in this season's League Cup final, netting a double in the 3-1 win over Celtic.
Billy Hogg
Fan writer
The task couldn't have been simpler. Pick up three points against the league's worst team - who were enduring the longest winless run in Scottish top-flight history - and edge closer to securing a ninth straight season in the Premiership.
As we all know, though, things aren't always simple when it comes to St Mirren.
For months now, there's been a lingering feeling that Livingston were "due a win." Since their previous league victory against Falkirk on 9 August, they had drawn 12 games, thrown away 25 points from winning positions and come close to beating both Rangers and Hearts.
On Saturday in Paisley, that 31-match run finally came to a deserved end at the expense of Craig McLeish's men. In the first half the hosts were in control and carved out several decent opportunities, but were unable to put the ball in Jerome Prior's net.
After half-time, though, the Buddies were undone twice on the counter, with Alex Gogic's own goal and Scott Pittman's strike giving the visitors all three points and delaying their return to the Championship for another week at least.
For the Buddies, Kilmarnock's defeat at Pittodrie was the only bright spot on a bleak day as we remain two points clear of 11th spot.
Of course this will always go down as the season where major silverware came to Paisley for only the fifth time and the club got so, so close to another final.
But I'd quite happily pack in the season now, take the 10th-place finish and start afresh in July. Sadly the league doesn't offer deals like that and this Saturday brings a trip east to Dundee as Saints look for a first league away win outside Grangemouth in almost a year.
Gogic misses out, his 12th booking of the season earning him a two-match ban. Emergency goalie Ross Sinclair looks set to continue between the sticks as Shamal George is still to return from the injury that kept him out of the Scottish Cup semi-final loss.
To get over the line McLeish's side will need to dig deep, with this trip to Dens Park immediately followed by the ultimate six-pointer at home to Kilmarnock on 9 May.
During McLeish's brief reign there have been positives, including a gritty road win against Falkirk and impressive home victory against Aberdeen just three weeks ago.
If the Buddies are able to pull out performances like that in the next four games, another season at Scottish football's top table awaits.
But if last Saturday's second-half performance is repeated? Well, we'd be staring down the barrel of another 180 minutes - or more - of football against whoever emerges from the Championship dogfight.
For the sake of my blood pressure, let's hope it doesn't come to that.
ARE HEARTS DESTINED TO WIN THE TITLE? 🏆
It was a seismic weekend in the hunt for the Scottish Premiership crown. Are you rejoicing, are you quietly optimistic, or are you chucking it?
Join the debate with Ray Bradshaw at 18:00 BST TONIGHT on the BBC Sport Scottish Football YouTube channel, external to give us your views in the chat. The show is fully interactive, so have your say.
Remember to like and subscribe to not miss it!
Watch Sportscene analysis of St Mirren's performance v Livingston
Watch the Sportscene team discuss St Mirren's lack of goal threat in their 2-0 defeat at home by Livingston.
"When you're not putting the ball in the back of the net, you run the risk of potentially getting hit with a sucker punch," former Scotland midfielder Michael Stewart said.
"Livingston were dangerous and capable. When you don't convert opportunities, you put yourself under pressure.
"The goals they concede, they are caught with quick breakaways. It's something Craig McLeish needs to look at."
Watch all the highlights as Livingston picked up their second victory of the season and handed St Mirren's survival hopes a blow with a 2-0 win in Paisley. Available to UK users only.
Image source, SNSSt Mirren interim manager Craig McLeish insists his side will "fight till the very end" after their survival hopes were dented by a 2-0 home defeat to bottom side Livingston on Saturday.
The League Cup winners are 10th in the Premiership table, just two points above Kilmarnock in the relegation play-off spot with four games left to play.
But McLeish, who took interim charge following Stephen Robinson's move to Aberdeen, insists the Buddies are up for the fight.
"They are and they will be," he said.
"And one thing about any group that I lead is that they will fight until it's absolutely over and hopefully it's a positive outcome for us at the end of the season.
"But the one thing that we will do as a staff, as a group of players, is we will fight till the very end.
"We know we're in a fight – it wasn't like going into the game we thought we were in a comfortable position.
"We were in a fight before we went into the game, we were in a fight now.
"We've just lost one of our five games. We've got four to go to save our season."
St Mirren fans, we asked for your views after Saturday's defeat to Livingston.
Here's what some of you had to say:
Alan: Plenty of the ball in the first half but as usual no cutting edge, that has been a problem for many seasons. The second half was just awful. We really need to wake up and realize we are in serious trouble before it's too late.
Gus: The collapse in extra time at Hampden was unacceptable but I was more interested in the league. After seeing how the team played against Livi, there should be no chance of Craig McLeish being considered for the managers job.
Ali: Sigh.
Michael: Absolutely rotten from the temporary manager down. Time for a clear out. We may have won a cup be we have lost our heart. Only bonus is that those around us are just as bad. Clear out, clean up and come back with fresh blood.
Panther: An embarrassing display, especially in the second half. The entire team looked out of sorts, Mark O'Hara looked lost, Miguel Freckleton was too slow with the ball and put on a nervous display and even the usually rock-solid Alex Gogic had a bad one and a bewildering own goal. If we play anywhere near as bad as we did in this match in our remaining games we will be fortunate to get a play-off place.
Image source, SNSSt Mirren interim manager Craig McLeish: "That was a sore one. We know we're in a fight, we know the situation we're in. It's fine margins in all of these games. You can't take anything for granted.
"Anyone can beat anyone in these games. We did probably enough in the first half to take the lead, the goalkeepers made a couple of good saves. We can't take that for granted and think that will continue to happen.
"We have to convert some of our chances. We spoke all week about Livingston being dangerous on the counter attack, and they've hit us twice.
"That was my frustration today, we were loose in possession at times. We weren't as fluid and confident on the ball as we have been.
"They wanted a slow game, a turgid game. We spoke all week about speeding it up, playing with intensity, and we didn't do that enough. A real tough one today.
"We've got a choice now. We either stick together and keep fighting, or it goes the other way. We've lost a game, we've got four to save our season."
Livingston picked up just their second Scottish Premiership win of the season - and first since August - as they beat St Mirren to keep their extremely slim survival hopes alive.
Image source, SNSSt Mirren will have either 17-year-old Grant Tamosevicius, who has signed a contract extension after making his debut in Sunday's Scottish Cup semi-final defeat by Celtic, or Ross Sinclair, who has arrived on a seven-day emergency loan from St Johnstone, in goal against Livingston.
It follows Sunday's injury to Ryan Mullen, while Shamal George already sidelined.
Malik Dijksteel, Keanu Baccus and Marcus Fraser are out for the season, but forward Dan Nlundulu could be back.
Livingston forwards Connor McLennan and Jeremy Bokila are still out, but midfielder Aidan Denholm is closer to featuring after recovering a long-term hamstring injury.
Image source, SNSGoalkeeper Grant Tamosevicius has been handed a contract extension by St Mirren - just five days after conceding five goals on his debut.
The 17-year-old was thrust into action after Ryan Mullen injured himself conceding the opening goal in Sunday's 6-2 Scottish Cup semi-final defeat by Celtic.
Tamosevicius had been on the bench following an injury to first-choice Shamal George and with Peter Urminsky on loan to Glentoran.
With Mullen being ruled out with a torn muscle that requires surgery, St Mirren have since signed St Johnstone goalkeeper Ross Sinclair on a seven-day emergency loan.
But Tamosevicius, who had a year left of his existing deal, did enough at Hampden to help secure a contract extension that keeps him at the Scottish Premiership club until summer 2029.
Interim manager Craig McLeish told St Mirren's website: "It was always something that was in the works, but following his debut on Sunday, we felt it was right to give Grant that reward.
"I brought Grant into the club when he was 13 and it's nice to be able to share this with him. He is a fantastic young goalkeeper and we've got really high hopes for him.
"Jamie Langfield has worked closely with Grant over the years and deserves a lot of credit in guiding him, as does academy director Allan McManus. He more than deserves this and we're delighted that it's completed."
Image source, SNSSt Mirren interim manager Craig McLeish has been speaking to the media before his side host Livingston on Saturday.
Here are the key points from his press conference:
On social media abuse directed at goalkeeper Ryan Mullen after the Scottish Cup semi-final defeat, McLeish says: "It's not real life, it's faceless accounts. Some of it may come from fans of our own club and fans of other clubs, but those same people aren't making those comments if they see you face to face."
McLeish also emphasised Mullen is being supported by the club and his family following his injury and the subsequent abuse after the cup exit: "Ryan's family, the support that he's had from his team-mates, from the club, the people who see him daily in daily life, he knows he's got that support from us. That's the bit that matters."
On Mullen's injury, McLeish says: "Even within the game we knew it was a bad one… I would have taken that decision out his hands anyway. He said he couldn't kick, that he was feeling something. He's now had the unfortunate news that he's going to need surgery. We just have to rally round him and support him."
St Johnstone's Ross Sinclair has been signed on a seven-day emergency loan, with McLeish saying: "We're really comfortable with the goalkeeping situation now. Bringing Ross in is a massive help that he has Premiership experience. We know he's a strong goalkeeper. Whatever decision we go with over the next couple of games, we're comfortable with either Grant [Tamosevicius] or Ross in goals for us."
Shamal George "should" be back before the end of the season and is no longer wearing his protective boot.
McLeish says the players need to have a "short memory" about their semi-final thumping by Celtic as they have a massive game in their relegation fight this weekend. He adds: "We've got a massive run of games going into the split. They had a day off and then we came back in and reset, and reset really well throughout the week."
Despite succumbing to Celtic in extra time, McLeish says there are still positives for his side to build upon as they fight for their top-flight status: "There are so many positives over not just the last two games, but the five games that I've taken in charge of. I'm so happy with so many parts of it."
On their match with Livingston, and the chance to potentially move five points clear of the relegation play-off spot, McLeish says: "It's in our own hands. If we take care of our games then we can pull ourselves out of this situation."
Image source, SNSSt Mirren have lost just one of their past 16 Scottish Premiership meetings with Livingston (W7 D8), going down 1-0 away from home in February 2024.
Livingston won their first-ever Premiership visit to St Mirren 2-0 in August 2018, but have since failed to win 10 such trips in the competition (D4 L6), losing their past four in a row and failing to score in their latest three.
Depending on Kilmarnock's result at Aberdeen, Livingston could be relegated this weekend should they fail to beat St Mirren. Since the Premiership rebranded in 2013, they would be only the second newly-promoted side to be relegated from the division, after Dundee in 2021-22.
St Mirren haven't won their first game after the Premiership split in any of their past five seasons (D1 L4), although their last win on matchday 34 in the competition came against Livingston in 2018-19 (3-1).
Livingston have dropped 25 points from winning positions in the Premiership this season; since the competition's rebrand in 2013, the record in a single campaign is 28 by Hamilton in 2017-18 and Dundee in 2024-25.
