It might turn out to be another memorable season for St Mirren. A third successive top-six Premiership finish remains a possibility and the Buddies are still in the Scottish Cup.

On Monday they host Heart of Midlothian live on the BBC with the final place in the cup quarter-finals up for grabs, but whatever happens in the game, it's a season manager Stephen Robinson is unlikely to forget.

It started promisingly with their first European campaign since 1987 and trips to Iceland and Norway.

By autumn, though, that campaign was behind them and three summer signings, defenders Shaun Rooney and Jaden Brown as well as striker Kevin van Veen, had left the club amid three unrelated court cases.

How did Robinson deal with that?

''It's not something they teach you on the Uefa pro-licence course," he said. "It's certainly been the most testing season off the pitch.

"All the boys I bring in, I have a bond with them. You try and get to know them as much as you possibly can, so it's not nice to see people losing their jobs.

''I think the Uefa courses give you the bare minimum. I feel that managers should be contributing given the reality of problems they encounter and how they deal with them, whether it's successful or not, and how you'd do things differently.

''But, with a little bit more experience, you do learn to deal with it, you learn to just compartmentalise it a little bit, and deal with what you can in front of you.

''You have to be there to try and support people at the same time, so really, really difficult in terms of dealing with people but also the effect it has on the rest of the squad, and trying to lift them again, and I think the players have been super.''

The European campaign, joyous but short-lived, put its strains on players and staff alike.

''It was always a challenge for a club of our size to reach Europe, to compete in Europe, to build a squad for Europe so quickly," Robinson explained.

"The infrastructure at the football club was not set up to be in Europe, so a lot of pressure on the staff at the football club, both football and non-football staff.

''So to be two points off where we were last season at this stage in the league is an absolute testament to the character of the squad and the football club as a whole.

"You can't expect St Mirren continually be a top-six side with the resources and the size of other football clubs, but you have to make the cut more often than in the past.''

The Buddies are just outside the top half of the table, level on points with one of those bigger clubs, Hearts - the sides they meet in the fifth round of the cup in Paisley on Monday.

''All you ask for in a cup game is to get a home tie," Robinson said. "We've actually been better on the road this season, but we've got a home tie.

"It'll be a full house. It's something we want to embrace. We know that Hearts have spent a lot of money to put a really, really good squad together.

''They've got a very good manager in Neil Critchley and he's starting to put his stamp on Hearts now."

Robinson believes Hearts' new recruitment model is already bearing fruit with the involvement of Brighton & Hove Albion owner Tony Bloom's and his data analytics company, a model the Northern Irishman envies.

''We'd love Tony to come in and stick 10 million pounds into the club - and that would be fantastic," he said.

"So, if Tony's reading this, St Mirren would be happy to take your analytics for a few years anyway!

''We can't afford that. We've got one scout in the whole world, Martin Foyle, who does an amazing job, an amazing job with his contacts and the amount of people that he brings in for us.

"We get so much value for money from the players that Martin brings in, so I can't praise him enough.''

Although the clubs are level in the league table, and even on the head to head count this season with a win apiece at home expects, the visitors will be regarded as favourites to reach the quarter-finals.

''They should be expected to win," Robinson added. "And they'll come out and play and play in an open style. They have got a little bit more direct in recent games.

''What we've struggled with this season is playing teams that have played a little bit deeper. Away from home, you're able to play on the counter-attack, which suits the personnel that we have.

"We have to be more creative. But Hearts will come and play. So that leaves gaps, it leaves spaces and, hopefully, will make for a good cup game.''