Ross County will be looking to claim their third successive Scottish Premiership win when they play host to St Mirren on Saturday afternoon.
The visitors, meanwhile, are hoping to avoid a third consecutive league defeat after losing their last two matches by 2-0 scorelines.
Match preview
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Malky Mackay has enjoyed a brilliant week in the Ross County dugout, as he watched his team follow up their 3-1 win at home against St Johnstone with a slender 1-0 victory away at Motherwell on Wednesday night.
Joseph Hungbo's 15th-minute penalty proved to be the winning strike for the Staggies, who have now climbed up to eighth in the table, 10 points above the bottom two and level on points with Saturday's opponents St Mirren.
With a healthy gap separating them from the danger zone, Mackay's men could now challenge for a top six or even a top-four finish, as they are only four points behind Livingston in fourth.
Spirits are high within the Ross County camp but they now prepare for a league clash with St Mirren, who they have failed to beat in each of their last seven meetings, including a 3-2 defeat on home soil in October last year.
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St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson is yet to get off the mark with his new club, after a 2-0 home defeat against Hearts was followed by a loss by the same scoreline away at Celtic on Wednesday.
Second-half strikes from Cameron Carter-Vickers and Callum McGregor condemned the Saints to their ninth Premiership defeat of the campaign as well as their first away from home in 2022.
As mentioned earlier, St Mirren are level on points with Ross County but they are one place behind them in ninth on goal difference. However, they are still in with a chance of finishing as high as fourth for the first time since 1980-81, with four games to go before the league splits in two.
St Mirren have a strong away record against Ross County, as they have won in five of their last six Premiership visits to Victoria Park, scoring at least twice in each victory.
The return of striker Eamonn Brophy, who has scored six goals in his last seven appearances against the Staggies, has come at the perfect time for St Mirren, as the 25-year-old has recovered from an ankle injury.
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Team News
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Ross County duo David Cancola and Josh Sims remain doubtful and will be assessed ahead of kickoff; the latter is yet to make his debut for the club due to fitness issues.
In-form wingers Hungbo and Regan Charles-Cook are set to continue on the flanks, providing support in attack for central striker Jordan White, while left-back Jake Vokins will be hoping to force his way back into the first XI ahead of either Kayne Ramsey or Connor Randall.
As for St Mirren, they have no new injury concerns, though Wolverhampton Wanderers loanee Connor Ronan will serve the second of his three-match suspension.
Robinson started with a back five against Celtic but he will likely revert to a four-man defence on Saturday, with Conor McCarthy set to drop out as a result.
As mentioned earlier, Brophy has now recovered from injury and could be handed his first start in over a month, potentially replacing Curtis Main up front.
Ross County possible starting lineup:
Laidlaw; Randall, Baldwin, Iacovitti, Vokins; H. Paton, Tillson; Charles-Cook, Callachan, Hungbo; White
St Mirren possible starting lineup:
Alnwick; Fraser, Shaughnessy, Dunne, Tait; Erhahon, Power, Gogic; Kiltie, Brophy, Jones
We say: Ross County 2-1 St Mirren
A closely-fought contest is set to be played out at Victoria Park on Saturday, with both sides looking to finish the weekend inside the top half of the table.
There is little to separate these two teams but with form on their side, we fancy the hosts to come away with all three points.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Ross County win with a probability of 40.14%. A win for St Mirren had a probability of 33.66% and a draw had a probability of 26.2%.
The most likely scoreline for a Ross County win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.03%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.59%) and 2-0 (6.92%). The likeliest St Mirren win was 0-1 (9.03%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.45%). The actual scoreline of 1-0 was predicted with a 10% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 1-0 win for Ross County in this match and our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted the win for Ross County.
