They might still be in the driving seat, but the Buddies’ growing injury list could send the club’s top six hopes skidding off the road.
Wednesday night’s loss to Celtic was not altogether unpredictable.
Neil Lennon’s Hoops have slowly been starting to regain some of their former style and verve, with several of their star players slowly remembering how to play football again.
The hosts were more than matching the visitors at a truly baltic SMISA Stadium until Jamie McGrath went down holding his shoulder after an innocuous clash with Stephen Welsh.
It’s often the ones that don’t look too serious at first glance that turn out to be the biggest blows and, when it became clear the Saints’ talisman had dislocated his shoulder, concern was quickly evident on the faces of those on the home bench.
Losing to Celtic was never going to be a massive dent in St Mirren’s charge for a top six spot.
Manager Jim Goodwin would never have banked on picking up three points against either of the Old Firm to make it into the top half of the table, with last month’s win over the Hoops an absolute bonus.
What could be a huge blow to the club’s aspirations would be the loss of McGrath until the end of the season.
In truth, the picture looks bleak as, even if the talented Irishman is only out for a few weeks, he will have missed the majority of Saints’ crucial games in their bid to keep hold of sixth position.
With the matches so close together, a fortnight’s absence would see him miss difficult clashes with Aberdeen and Livingston, as well as the Buddies’ two games in hand against Motherwell and Hamilton.
It’s hard to underestimate the importance of McGrath to this Saints side.
I’ve lost track of how many times he’s earned the man of the match gong for his all-round swashbuckling displays at the heart of Goodwin’s midfield.
Not only does he work extremely hard to ensure Saints’ pressing style is effective, he’s also very technically gifted, with a superb range of passing and a calmness in front of goal most strikers would be proud of.
While many of his nine goals have come from the penalty spot this campaign, he scored a crucial winner against Motherwell in December while also netting twice in the club’s famous 3-2 win over Rangers in the League Cup.
Goodwin will be praying the 24-year-old midfielder will only be sitting on the sidelines for a couple of weeks, with his return for the last three games before the split against Ross County, Rangers and Hamilton potentially critical.
What compounds McGrath’s loss is the respective injuries to strikers Eamonn Brophy, Collin Quaner and Kristian Dennis.
Both Brophy and Quaner were brought to the club in January to help ease the goalscoring burden on the club’s number nine Jon Obika, with Dennis joining last summer.
Quaner was injured just a few minutes into his debut against St Johnstone, with Brophy speaking to the media on Monday about how much he’d have loved to open his account against Celtic - only to pick up a foot injury in training.
A fully fit and on-form Brophy would have been one hell of a weapon as the Saints looked to cement their place in the top six, but now it looks like it’s down to Obika and Lee Erwin to step up and provide the goals the club need to secure their main target this season.
With games in hand and a favourable run of home fixtures, St Mirren are still very much in prime position to secure their first top half top flight finish since the 1984-85 season.
With Saints’ injury list continuing to grow, it’s going to be an even tougher task for those left standing to ensure this season does end up being a historic one for all the right reasons for the club after all.
