St Mirren

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St Mirren have signed one promising 18-year-old midfielder to replace another as Jacob Devaney arrived on loan for Manchester United as Evan Mooney was sold to Arsenal.

Yorkshire-born Devaney captains United's under-21 side, for whom he has made 22 appearances this season, and has also played six times for Republic of Ireland Under-21s.

Describing himself as "a hard-working midfielder", he told St Mirren's website he likes to do his bit at both ends of the pitch and had worked hard on adding goals and assists this season.

St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson believes that the teenager is capable of making an immediate impact and said: "Jacob gives us something that we haven't got.

"We haven't really replaced Caolan Boyd-Munce and, with Keanu [Baccus] being injured, we haven't had that link between defence and midfield in recent weeks."

Meanwhile, St Mirren say they have "secured a substantial fee with potential for significant future add-ons and a sizeable sell-on clause" for academy graduate Mooney.

Mooney had made 23 appearances since making his first-team debut in October 2024, but all 15 this season have come from the bench.

"It's a fantastic opportunity for Evan at a club the size of Arsenal," Robinson added.

"Evan, his family and advisers were very keen to go.

"It was a terrific deal for the club as well and we're very well protected in terms of adds on and sell on should Evan go on to fulfil the potential that we believe that he has."

Sportscene pundit Michael Stewart disputes the decision to send off St Mirren forward Jake Young in the Buddies' goalless draw against Dundee on Saturday.

"I thought Stephen Robinson summed it up perfectly - he doesn't stretch, he's not high," Stewart said.

"Yes he catches him and there's probably enough in officialdom world to say it's a red, but I think that was a perfect example of a yellow card at most."

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St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson says his team will need to rely on "desire and attitude" when Premiership leaders Hearts come to Paisley on Tuesday.

Robinson's side are without a win in seven matches, including a 2-0 defeat by 10-man Hearts last month.

Both teams were in action on Saturday as Hearts beat Dundee United and St Mirren drew with Dundee, but Robinson says he is not able to rotate his squad like opposite number Derek McInnes.

"I expect another tough challenge," Robinson said. "We only played Hearts recently, there was not a lot between the teams at that stage but we had individual errors.

"But we had a clean sheet on Saturday, so that's a positive. We have to do the same. We have to keep a clean sheet.

"We know they've got a big squad and we know they can change it up and change things around. We can't. But we'll go with the same desire and attitude, I've no doubt about that.

"We just need to add that bit of quality, which I'm hoping will come when the players we've brought in get that extra sharpness from games and a little bit of confidence as well.

"That's obviously something as well that comes with winning games. We look forward to the game."

The Buddies are set to be without injured trio Mark O'Hara, Jonah Ayunga and Keanu Baccus plus the suspended Jake Young, unless an appeal against the attacker's red card in Saturday's goalless draw with Dundee is successful.

Simon Stone
Manchester United reporter

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Manchester United Under-21s skipper Jacob Devaney is set for a loan move to Scottish Premiership side St Mirren.

Devaney, 18, has been a key figure in United's under-21 set-up this season, featuring in every game, initially under Travis Binnion and then Tom Curtis following a coaching reshuffle at senior level.

He has excelled in central defence, at right-back and in central midfield as United have spent most of the season at the top of the Premier League 2 table.

However, he is yet to break into the first-team squad and is now set to get his chance in Scotland's top flight with St Mirren, who have not won in the league since 20 December.

St Mirren forward Evan Mooney, 18, could join Arsenal, who are pondering a £400,000 plus add-ons bid. (Sun), external

Monday's Scottish gossip

Watch highlights as 10-man St Mirren and Dundee share the points in a goalless stalemate in Paisley. (Available to UK users only)

We asked for your views on 10-MAN St Mirren's 0-0 draw against Dundee.

Here's what some of you said:

Douglas S: Poor quality in the final third. New signings not up to speed yet, but looked promising. Alex Gogic was immense again but referee Nick Walsh shouldn't be allowed to referee another game, at any level. Some of his decisions were totally baffling and his two assistants were equally as bad. Saints will come good again and will remain in this league.

Stuart: Maybe it's time for Stephen Robinson to move on for his own benefit. Club budget can't buy decent players and many of the existing ones are embarrassingly poor. Currently playing like they've never met before.

David: Another shocking refereeing performance and VAR choosing not to do its job properly again overshadowed another very poor St Mirren performance. The Buddies' bubble burst after the League Cup win, however it had been in very soapy waters right from the start of this season. We simply can't score goals.

Iain: We're not a good watch at the moment, can't score and injuries to key players are killing us. Never a sending off, Walsh moved too quickly to get his red card out. The positives are that we dug in with 10 men, performances of Gogic, Marcus Fraser etc. Come the end of the season, this might prove to be a precious point.

Neil: Another game where we had plenty of effort but lacked conviction and created little. Two new strikers but no change in service from a meek midfield that was dominated by Dundee who played a lot of nice stuff but never threatened in the final third. Sending off was soft but we played just as well with 10 men.

Douglas M: It was a game that reflected the inability of each side to score goals. Neither keeper was tested to any extent. Not quite sure how we break out of this relegation scramble at the bottom. Livingston seem divorced, but Kilmarnock will put something together, meanwhile we struggle to find the net.

Ten-man St Mirren held on for a precious Premiership point in Paisley after a turgid goalless Scottish Premiership draw against Dundee.

Read the full match report here

Have your say on the game via this link

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St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson: "Another game unbeaten, that's three now, so we have to take the positives.

"Game was a bit scrappy, but we had the best chances."

Recent signing Jake Young was sent off just after the hour mark.

"The boys' reaction to the red card was brilliant," he adds. "I thought it was an unjustified decision.

"But we stayed disciplined and my goalkeeper didn't have a save to make."

Robinson hopes to have one more signing in before the transfer window closes.

Exeter City midfielder Ed Francis has pulled out of a loan move to St Mirren after the 26-year-old had agreed a deal on Thursday. (Daily Record), external

Read Saturday's Scottish Gossip in full.

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St Mirren new boy Kion Etete has picked up a hamstring problem but is expected to make it.

Saints remain without Jonah Ayunga (tendon), Mark O'Hara (ankle) and Keanu Baccus (hamstring tendon). Fraser Taylor has joined Partick Thistle on loan until the end of the season.

Billy Koumetio (knee) and Clark Robertson (thigh) are still out for Dundee through injury, while recent signing Brad Halliday is hoping to make his first appearance for the club.

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Stephen Robinson says he is "very hopeful" of still having Killian Phillips and Miguel Freckleton at St Mirren when the transfer window closes on Monday.

MLS clubs Minnesota United, San Diego and Portland Timbers are reportedly preparing bids for 23-year-old USA-born midfielder Phillips and ready to meet the Buddies' asking price of £750,000.

Centre-back Freckleton, 22, has been linked with clubs in England.

Before the Buddies host Dundee in the Premiership on Saturday, Robinson said there has been "no contact" about the duo.

He added: "Confident? No, because when you're a club like ourselves, you're always at the mercy of people with a lot more money than yourself.

"Very hopeful. At the moment, there's been no contact.

"I can never understand why people leave it right to the last minute to do things but if you're in that position where you can throw money at it, perhaps that's what you do, you wait until the last minute.

"But at the moment we've had no contact, both boys are very happy here. They've not spoken to me about absolutely anything. They're very focused on us winning football matches.

"That's football. If it happens, then it would be an offer we deem acceptable or the board deem acceptable that is beneficial to the football club."

Robinson understands the importance of their fixture against Steven Pressley's side, with a win meaning they would go above ninth-place Dundee.

"Visually it would look better, obviously it's an important game, we feel it's one that we can take points from and it's important that we do that," he added.

"It's important that we continue the run we are on, we got through to the next round of the cup and we got a point away from home, which is always important.

"It's now about capitalising on that home game and it's really important people get behind us, get behind the players. Remember what they've given so far this season already.

"If I said to anybody 'you stay in the league and you win a cup', everybody would have snapped their hand off at the start of the season. So it's really important we keep that in mind."

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St Mirren midfielder Fraser Taylor has joined Championship chasers Partick Thistle on loan until the end of the season.

The 22-year-old earned rave reviews on loan at Arbroath last season, winning the League One title and the division's Player of the Year award, before spending the first-half of this campaign in the first team in Paisley.

He featured on 13 occasions, six of which were starts, but manager Stephen Robinson admitted the club "feel like Fraser needs more game time and he needs to go and play at another good level.

"He did it last year with Arbroath in League One and he's had opportunities here as well this season and played his part. But we feel that regular football will progress him even further.

"Going to a team like Partick Thistle who are challenging for promotion will be a fantastic opportunity for him.

"We'd like to keep him longer term. Fraser is probably a couple of years behind in his development in terms of physicality, but he is getting there.

"He's got real talent, but he needs to go and play games. Sitting on the bench or coming on for 20 minutes isn't the way to progress and we feel like this is the right thing to do."

Taylor joins fellow Buddies midfielder Oisin Smyth at Firhill.

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• St. Mirren (17) and Dundee (19) are the two lowest scoring sides in this season's Scottish Premiership. Indeed, the Buddies have the lowest shot conversion rate in the competition this term (6.3% - 17 goals from 268 shots), while the Dee are bottom for total shots (214) and expected goals (18.5).

• Only bottom side Livingston have fewer away points in the Scottish Premiership this season (four) than Dundee (six), who have just one win in 12 away league outings this term (D3 L8).

• St. Mirren are winless in their last six league games (D2 L4), failing to score in four of those since a 1-0 victory over Livingston in December.

• Dundee have won three of their last four Scottish Premiership meetings with St. Mirren (L1), as many as their previous 15 beforehand (W3 D3 L9).

• St. Mirren have won six of their last eight Scottish Premiership matches at home to Dundee (L1), including a 1-0 win in September this season.

Major League Soccer clubs Minnesota United, San Diego and Portland Timbers are preparing bids for 23-year-old St Mirren midfielder Killian Phillips and are ready to meet the Premiership club's asking price of £750,000 for the Republic of Ireland player. (The Herald)

Scottish Premiership rivals and clubs in the English Championship and Europe are considering approaches for 22-year-old St Mirren centre-back Miguel Freckleton. (Daily Record)

Read the rest of Wednesday's gossip.

Andrew Christie
Fan writer

Saturday's trip to Tannadice was postponed because of a waterlogged pitch, which felt frustrating at first.

Another fixture pile-up to navigate later, another week without points on the board. But maybe it's exactly what we needed.

We've been bouncing from one game to the next without time to properly catch our breath, never mind integrate the January additions.

Jake Young got 20 minutes against Livingston. Kion Etete's barely had time to read my 'Top 10 Palindromic Footballer Names' list, never mind build the kind of understanding with his midfield that a striker in a Stephen Robinson system needs.

Not-quite-new-but-different Tunmise Sobowale looked dangerous in his 15 minutes last Tuesday at Livi, but one promising cameo doesn't necessarily mean immediate match-readiness.

The issue isn't just fitness or form, it's cohesion, which sounds like LinkedIn speak - have you thought about what a 2-2 draw with bottom-of-the-league Livi could teach us about B2B marketing? - but actually matters.

Young's movement is different to what our current strikers offer. He wants the ball in behind, wants to stretch defences vertically. That requires midfield to recognise the runs, to play the pass early, to trust he'll be there.

Etete gives us a proper aerial outlet, but only if wing-backs know when to hit him, if midfielders know when to play into his chest versus when to play around him.

These are tactical relationships that need building, the sort of understanding that can't be fast-tracked, only repeated into existence.

Robinson's been firefighting. Fixtures, absences, arrivals - holding the centre while the edges keep moving.

You can't solve those problems between Tuesday and Saturday. You need time on the grass... or plastic, or swamp, depending on what mood the SPFL is in on any given day.

An extra week means actually having one. Time to build those relationships we've been talking about rather than just hoping they develop on the job.

Time for bodies to feel properly fresh instead of just functional. Time to turn arrivals into integrations, to let Robinson actually coach the things that need coaching rather than just managing the chaos.

Sometimes the best result is no result at all.

Andrew Christie can be found at Misery Hunters, external