St Mirren have finally returned to their Ralston training base after months on the road due to a nightmare pitch situation.

The Paisley club invested heavily - to the tune of a six-figure fee - into a new surface at their base in April.

However, rotten weather led to the surface not bedding in properly and forcing the club to train between Neilston Juniors' Brig O'Lea and Glasgow University's Garscube facilities.

St Mirren returned to Ralston last week after a turbulent few weeks with European football alongside the less-than-ideal training scenario.

"We’ve had nowhere to train too since April last year," admitted Robinson. “We thank all the people who have helped us out. Neilston Juniors helped us out and we've been at Garscube at Glasgow University. 

“It's only an extra hour on your day but you're travelling and it's a little bit broken. We've been back at the training ground this week which is great.

“Credit to the groundsmen who have done a lot of work behind the scenes to get us here. Both the groundsmen and the club in fact.

"There seems to be a bit of a normality about this week rather than what it has been for the last six to eight weeks."

The pitch issue had seen chunks of turf clumping out of the ground whenever it was in use but has now been resolved with the surface improving week-on-week.

“Aye! It's much better" said Robinson of the pitch after extensive work on the surface. "The weather's been very unkind to us. Let's be honest, it's been a dreadful summer.

“I don't think we're the only people that suffered from that. 

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“Our problem was it was a brand new pitch and brand new pitches need good weather and sunshine to grow. Scotland's probably the wrong country for that.

“It's getting better, it's improving. We can train on it now. Being here based at our own training ground is having everything close to us is a real big boost."

St Mirren had initially utilised West of Scotland Second Division side Neilston's stadium for training in pre-season before switching to Garscube throughout their European run.

But a return to Ralston - where further investments have been made to improve the overall facilities - has brought more unity to day-to-day preparations.

On the experience, Robinson added: “It was fine and it really helped us out. We didn't have anywhere else to train.

“It was that or AstroTurf. Between themselves and Garscube, Neilston helped us out early on and Garscube have helped us through the European stages. We're very appreciative of that. 

“It was nobody's fault with the training pitch here, just down to circumstances.

“We put money into the training ground but it has been a little bit of a stop-start. Meetings and analysis and all the stuff you usually do at the training ground have been a bit broken. We're feeling a lot better about ourselves.

“There seems to be a lot more togetherness with the boys being together instead of stuck in cars travelling here, there and everywhere.

“It's something we didn't shout about during it but it certainly feels like a proper week now."