Competition for places ‘driving St Mirren forward’

Stephen Robinson is confident his St Mirren squad has the strength in depth to avoid a Conference League exit against Brann.

The Buddies followed up their 4-1 aggregate win over Valur in the second qualifying ground with a 3-0 skelping of Hibs in their Premiership opener on Sunday.

And with fierce competition for places, manager Robinson is delighted to be spoiled for choice when picking his XI for Thursday’s first leg in Paisley.

“We’re well organised but we’ve got a little bit of flair in the team as well,” he said.

“I believe that’s through a lot of competition for places and we’ve got two in each position now, so it’s up to me to try and get that correct for each game and it is important.

“You know, I’ve listened to other managers, I have experience from being in Europe with Motherwell as well. You do need to shuffle the team more, so it’s important we get that right and people know they can’t just turn up and expect to play now.

“There is real threats through the positions and I think it’s driving everybody forward.”

Robinson is braced for a difficult test against the in-form visitors, who sit second in Norway‘s Eliteserien and are European regulars.

“Brann are flying in their league, but if we’re at the top of our game – and we need to be – there’s no question in my mind we can get a result,” he added.

“There’s opportunities certainly for people to make their name.”