Kilmarnock will be in the Premiership next season after a win that sealed survival, and Neil McCann said the night felt brilliant after what had looked like a bleak situation when he and the staff arrived. He said the result was special because the club had done enough to stay up.
McCann said he and Billy Dodds came in to do a job and were delighted to have finished it, adding that he had to praise the staff behind the scenes for the work that helped turn the mood around. He said he was aware of the score at Pittodrie, but stayed relatively calm until a deflected shot flew into the top corner, insisting the answer was simply to keep playing.
The win matters because it removes any late-season doubt and allows Kilmarnock to finish with a clearer target. Joe Hugill said staying in the Premiership was always the aim when he arrived, and that the club now want to push on and finish ninth. He said the winning goal felt inevitable because the side kept believing it would come, and that the result was all that mattered.
The backdrop gives the night extra weight. St Mirren’s last play-off involvement came in 2019, when they squeezed past Dundee United on penalties to stay up, with Vaclav Hladky saving three spot-kicks in the shootout. That memory sits over every end-of-season survival battle, and it is part of why these final games carry such nerve for the clubs involved.
There was also encouragement elsewhere for St Mirren manager Craig McLeish, who said the players fought for each other, stuck together and produced a very good performance at a difficult venue. He said his focus now is on building momentum and confidence for the last three games, and that his belief in the group has been massive from day one. St Mirren have won four games since Christmas, three of them since he took charge, and McLeish said the next task is simple: keep that run going and take care of what is in front of them.
For Kilmarnock, the immediate story is survival, not style. For McCann, it is proof the work done after a bleak start has delivered the one result that mattered most.
