Stephen Robinson says leading St Mirren to European qualification would be the greatest achievement in his managerial career so far.
St Mirren, one point behind United, will leapfrog the Tannadice side into fourth if they better their rivals’ result on Saturday – the only problem being they are away to Celtic on the day the champions collect the Premiership trophy.
However, Robinson insists: “It’s certainly not an impossible task. We’ve taken the whole European pressure off the players and said, ‘let’s remain unbeaten in the top six’.
“For St Mirren to be unbeaten in the top six would be an incredible achievement.”
The Paisley side have beaten United and Aberdeen while drawing with Rangers and Hibernian in their post-split fixtures, but Robinson recognises getting a result at Celtic Park is the hardest challenge.
“That is our first and foremost goal,” the Northern Irishman said. “If we do that, it might be enough. We can’t affect what happens at Dundee United and Aberdeen.
“It’ll be 100 degrees inside Celtic Park and their fans will be there to celebrate. So it’s our job to try and put a little bit of a dampener on them.”
While the Buddies qualified for Europe last season, for the first time in 37 years, Robinson said reaching the top six this season has come despite facing challenges “you probably don’t get when you manage for 30 years”.
Three new signings – Kevin van Veen, Shaun Rooney and Jaden Brown – left the club amid separate court cases, making his job “un-enjoyable at times”.
“We got a bit of stick for celebrating reaching the top six,” Robinson added. “That was a relief on my part because we weren’t in a relegation battle.
“Being in this division is a huge success for St Mirren. Being in the top six is a brilliant achievement.
“Being in Europe is something that happens once in a lifetime for most St Mirren fans. If we can do that twice in consecutive years then that would be a super achievement.”
