The Scottish Premiership’s second bottom side, St. Mirren, travel to Scottish Championship runners-up Dundee United on Thursday night for the first leg of their relegation/promotion playoff.
Although St. Mirren went undefeated in their last six matches, including winning back to back games to finish the term, they couldn’t overhaul rivals Hamilton Academical in the table.
Now, St. Mirren must overcome second division side, and playoff favourite, Dundee United to secure a place in the Premiership next season.
Dundee United missed automatic promotion back to the top flight by just five points. Robbie Neilson’s side must now achieve promotion the hard way.
The club was forced to play Inverness in a promotion playoff semifinal just to reach the Thursday night’s first leg against St. Mirren. Dundee United won the playoff 4-0 on aggregate.
Dundee United and St. Mirren did lock horns once this season in the Scottish Cup. The game was played in February at St Mirren’s ground, which is the site of the playoff tie’s second leg.
The Tangerines achieved victory against St. Mirren 2-1 thanks to goals from Pavol Safranko and Nicky Clark. St. Mirren did pull a goal back through Duckens Nazon. His goal made for a nervy ending, but Dundee United ultimately prevailed.
Neilson looks set to be without centre-back Frederic Frans. The Belgian has been suffering from a groin injury since February. St. Mirren’s Greg Tansey will also miss the fixture due to a groin injury.
The two clubs are quite familiar with each other. Last season, Dundee United and St. Mirren clashed four times in the Premiership. The sides split the games with two wins apiece. The home team won each of the four matches.
Safranko has been a revelation for Dundee United this term. The Slovakian tallied 12 goals in the Championship to lead Dundee United in scoring. Safranko is only on loan and looks likely to be snapped up by a Premiership side in the offseason.
St. Mirren leading scorers Simeone Jackson and Daniel Mullen scored five times apiece during the Premiership season. St. Mirren scored the Premiership’s third fewest goals with just 34 registered. Dundee United’s defence will be difficult for the visitors to break down.
Dundee United go into Thursday night’s playoff final in-form. They are the favourites to gain promotion back to the Premiership and playing at home will benefit Neilson’s team as Dundee United posted a 11W-3D-4L record at Tannadice during the league season.
Like their cup fixture in February, Dundee United and St. Mirren should combine for over 2.5 goals in an exciting first leg. Dundee United will come out on top thanks to their form and home support.