Stephen Robinson urges St Mirren players to make the most of rare Christmas Day off by toppling Aberdeen

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Stephen Robinson is delighted his hard-working Buddies will enjoy a rare Christmas Day off with their families this year. But the Saints boss insists their festive feasts will taste a lot sweeter if they first wrap up a win against Aberdeen this afternoon.With St Mirren playing on Christmas Eve this year instead of the usual Boxing Day clash, the players have been given Sunday off to relax at home with their loved ones.Robinson hopes they make the most of the opportunity by first giving back to the club and delivering their supporters a welcome win against former manager Jim Goodwin’s Dons at the SMiSA Stadium.Robinson told Renfrewshire Live Sport: “We’re itching to get back playing.

We had a false dawn last week when the game was called off and the boys were frustrated, but we’ve had another good week of training and we’re ready to go.“For the first time in my professional career, the players are not in on Christmas Day.

We usually play on Boxing Day, but not this year. So we have given the boys Christmas Day off and we’ll train on December 26, 27 and play the 28.

It’s worked out well this year.“It’s very rare, but before then we have to get some points that will help us enjoy our Christmas dinner that little bit better.”The Buddies entered the long World Cup break on the back of two draws with St Johnstone and Rangers and saw their comeback against Motherwell delayed last weekend.Aberdeen, on the other hand, have had two energy-sapping defeats at the hands of Celtic and Rangers, with the Dons hoping to bounce back in Paisley today.Robinson doesn’t believe the Old Firm battles will have drained the Dons too much, but still wants to see his side take the game to their visitors in the hunt for points.He said: “It’s like