Saints chairman John Needham insists the SPFL must reconsider their Covid-19 protocols after their request for postponements after a serious outbreak fell on deaf ears.
St Mirren were without 11 first team players for the visit of Celtic last night, with three teenagers drafted into Jim Goodwin's starting XI.
The Paisley club could also manage just a six-man bench with none of the substitutes having played a minute of first team football between them.
The Buddies asked the SPFL to postpone their clashes with Celtic and Rangers this week, but were told they must take to the field having been allowed to recall a number of youngsters from their loans early.
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Needham believes more needs to be done to protect players given the severity of the pandemic and the current Government guidance.
Needham told stmirren.com: "I must thank Jim Goodwin and his staff for a heroic performance on the pitch and the professional way everyone handled last night in the face of such adversity.
"I was extremely proud of every single player and I’m sure everyone watching would have been impressed by their application and fitness.
"On behalf of the Board I also want to record our disappointment at the situation we found ourselves in throughout yesterday.
"We understand that rules exist and are essential for the fair conduct of sporting competitions.
"However in the current pandemic we also feel that there needs to be judicious application of the rules, in this case, to take account of the law and guidance issued by Government around testing and isolation.
"We do not believe the rigid application of rules, agreed in a different set of circumstances, is appropriate or fair.
"We had to take the field last night without 11 of our first team squad and a substitutes’ bench where none of the players had played first team football for the club.
"Indeed the situation would have been worse had we not received negative PCR Test results around 6pm allowing the players in question and their close contacts to play.
"If those tests had been positive we would have been forced to field all of the players listed as substitutes in the starting line-up.
"We plan to write to the SPFL to highlight the difficulties we faced and our view of the need for change."
