Alex Gogic Backs St Mirren in 1-1 Play-Off Tie With Partick Thistle
alex gogic said St Mirren can keep their Scottish Premiership status by winning the second leg against Partick Thistle after Thursday’s first leg finished 1-1. The St Mirren centre-back has been through this before, and he wants the squad to carry that experience into a tie that now sits on the edge of fine margins.
Gogic and St Mirren
“It’s a huge game. I was in this situation with Hamilton,” Gogic said of the play-off. He was speaking from experience that reaches back nine years, when he survived the Scottish Premiership play-off with Hamilton.
That history runs through the way he talked about the tie. Gogic said younger players do not always realise how much it matters to the backroom staff, everyone across the club and the fans, a reminder that the pressure sits far beyond the pitch. St Mirren now need one clean result in the second leg to keep control of their top-flight place.
Hamilton in 2017
Hamilton stayed up in 2017 with a sole strike from Greg Docherty against Dundee United. Gogic’s recollection of that run gives St Mirren a direct reference point, not a theory about play-off football but a memory of how quickly a season can turn on a single goal.
He also drew a clear line to how St Mirren should approach the return leg. “There is a balance. We can’t put pressure on ourselves. We just play to our best and go and get that win,” he said, setting out a simple target after the first leg left nothing settled.
Partick Thistle and the return leg
The 1-1 draw on Thursday keeps Partick Thistle in the tie and leaves St Mirren needing to finish the job in the second leg. A level first leg does not give either side an edge, but it leaves the premiership club with the sharper demand: win, and stay up.
For St Mirren, that is the only outcome that matters now. Gogic has already lived one escape with Hamilton, and he is asking for the same response here — calm, no fear, and one more result strong enough to preserve their status.
