Stephen Robinson rues St Mirren errors in defeat to Dundee United

Manager Stephen Robinson admitted St Mirren were masters of their own downfall as they lost 2-1 to Dundee United at Tannadice.

The hosts took the lead through a Marcus Fraser own goal before Jake Young equalised for the Buddies, but the Terrors secured all three points when Amar Fatah scored from the penalty spot late on following an Alex Gogic handball.

The result leaves the Buddies in 10th place in the table, just three points ahead of Kilmarnock, and Robinson felt the manner of the defeat summed up their campaign so far.

He said: “That rounds off our season with the goals we’ve conceded – one’s an own goal and the other is Goga appealing offside, hitting his face then onto his arm.

“Teams aren’t having to create, we’re the masters of our own downfall.

“They played the pitch well and we didn’t, then we started playing in their half.

“Anything that can go wrong does go wrong. There’s a red card Matthew (referee MacDermid) and VAR doesn’t see which is incredible. Nobody sets out to make mistakes but we’ve been punished for two.

“It was over the far side, don’t know who it was with. I don’t want to see anyone sent off but the consistency is incredible at the moment.”

Robinson added: “I’d be a liar to say I wasn’t concerned. We’re here because we’ve not managed games well enough since the cup final, not been clinical, and we’re too easy to play against.

“Any win would give a side a boost. People think people don’t care but they know they’re making errors, but we’re getting punished.”

Boss Jim Goodwin insisted the Terrors will not be giving up on the chase for the top six, with the result narrowing the gap on Falkirk to nine points with four games remaining before the split.

Goodwin also felt the win was a big morale boost before Friday’s Scottish Cup quarter-final with Falkirk.

He said: “Really pleased. There was a bit of pressure after the defeat on Saturday.

“We didn’t want to go into Friday having lost a couple of games. For the morale of the team it was important we put on that performance.

“It’s always a physical challenge against St Mirren, albeit they’re not on a great run but you know they’ll fight for every ball.

“We won’t give up on the top six. We know how difficult it is but mathematically we’re in the running and it takes some pressure off the group in terms of teams below us.

“It was getting congested down there and had St Mirren won they’d have been three behind us so we open a nine-point gap and we have some daylight between the play-off place and it gives us a glimmer of hope for top six.

“Both ourselves and Falkirk have a difficult four fixtures but we’ll keep believing.”