St Mirren defy relegation fears with two opening Scottish Premiership wins

St Mirren beat St Johnstone 1-0 in Paisley to make it two wins from two in the Scottish Premiership, after Killian Phillips’ double had delivered a 2-0 opening-day victory at Falkirk. For a club many had marked down for a relegation scrap, the start has been immediate and pointed.

That mattered because Stephen Robinson had already sounded the alarm last season. In November 2025 he told BBC Scotland, “I've made it very, very clear to them - unless something changes, we're in a relegation battle,” after a period in which St Mirren were praised for performances but still searching for answers. Later in that campaign, a late McGregor winner for Celtic left St Mirren ninth and two points off bottom, a reminder of how narrow the margins were around Paisley.

The early-season turnaround looks built on a harder edge rather than a glamorous reset. At Falkirk, Phillips scored in the 11th and 87th minutes, turning a tricky away opener into a controlled 2-0 win. Against St Johnstone, St Mirren showed they can also protect a one-goal lead when the game tightens. That combination of efficiency and resistance was missing when the pressure mounted last winter.

The background also points to a side used to living under strain. St Mirren survived a Premiership play-off against Partick Thistle in May 2026, and before that had lifted the Scottish League Cup by beating Celtic in the final on 14 December 2025. Those results suggest a team that has spent a long stretch being tested in high-pressure matches rather than being carried by comfort.

The club’s history fits the same pattern. St Mirren were founder members of the Scottish League in 1890-91 and have been relegated and promoted repeatedly, with drops in 1935, 1967, 1971 and 1992 and promotions in 1976-77 and 1999-00. Two opening wins do not erase that volatility, but they do show that Robinson’s warning about the bottom end of the table has been met with an early response rather than another slow start.