If you're into your omens (and I am), you'll be pleased to hear that the last time we won, Mr Richmond was the referee. That was the magical night when we hammered Celtic 4-0, although we did have a couple of decent penalty shouts turned down. He was also in charge the glorious night when we beat Hearts to make the League Cup final, although again there was a mistake as he should have sent Ian Black off. His other St. Mirren games so far this season have been when we lost 3-1 at Ibrox in March, with some of the goals a bit dodgy, and when Celtic beat us 2-0 in Paisley, when the second goal shouldn't have stood.
The last time he was in charge of a battle of the Saints was at Perth in 2005 and it's also the last time we won a league win there. Kevin McGowne struck a late winner to give us a 2-1 victory, the Fakes having equalised from a Peter MacDonald penalty. Surprisingly, Craig Hinchcliffe wasn't sent off, although the keeper was outside the box when he committed the foul so it probably balanced out.
More amusing was another game between the two sides in 2004/05. Again we won 2-1, but St. Johnstone had three players sent off - and it could have been more!
For a fuller look at this official's history with games involving the Buddies, check out the article for the Celtic game a few weeks ago: http://www.stmirren-mad.co.uk/roll/ed16/know_the_ref__celtic_home_509266/index.shtml
Sadly, St. Johnstone have an even better record than ourselves with Mr Richmond this season as they've won all three of their games - taking victories against Aberdeen, Hibs and Hamilton. They lost their only game last season with him, although the defeat to Queen of the South - when Stewart Kean scored a stoppage time winner - was when they'd already wrapped up promotion.
No St. Johnstone games for him in 07/08 and just two the season before - a cup defeat to Celtic (who were given a penalty) and a win over Dundee, who had Paul Dixon sent off. Aside from the defeat to us in 2005/06, St. Johnstone also had wins over Queen of the South and Clyde that season. They had another defeat to us in 2004/05, which I've mentioned above, they hammered Partick Thistle and drew with Airdrie.
2003/04 was another blank season but there were two games the year before - a cup win over Stranraer in extra time and a 2-2 draw with Queens, the Saintees scoring twice in the last two minutes! 2001/02 saw Mr Richmond's first St. Johnstone game and they cruised to a 3-0 win over Livingston in the SPL.
So, Mr Richmond has given us some happy memories this season, and we have a perfect record when he's been in charge of our games against St. Johnstone. Let's hope that continues for another happy memory this weekend.