Dundee are in need of wins, the Dark Blues need points on the board.
And a home game against any other side in the bottom six has to be seen as a possible source of those precious points.
Saturday sees St Mirren arrive at Dens Park for the second time this season.
The Buddies are heading up from Paisley on the back of three straight wins, including two impressive league victories over Dundee United and Aberdeen.
Look further back, though, and they boast a very decent record at the home of Dundee.
Dundee 2-2 St Mirren – July 31, 2021
The Dark Blues made their return to top-flight football with an entertaining ding-dong battle at home to Jim Goodwin’s Buddies.
Dundee fought back twice to grab a deserved point after first Eamonn Brophy and then Jamie McGrath had put St Mirren in front.
Losing striker Danny Mullen to an ankle injury started things off badly for Dundee before his replacement Jason Cummings earned a point in the second half.
That was before Max Anderson’s lunge on Brophy earned a red card for the youngster.
Dundee 2-3 St Mirren – May 18, 2019
The Dark Blues bowed out of the top-flight in defeat as James McPake took caretaker charge following Jim McIntyre’s sacking.
That saw a debut for 16-year-old Fin Robertson, then replaced by equally-young Josh Mulligan in the second half.
Cammy Kerr opened the scoring before Darren O’Dea brought his career to an end in dramatic fashion with a red card after just 22 minutes.
The score went to 2-2 after loanee Scott Wright struck but Cody Cooke grabbed his hat-trick two minutes later to seal victory.
Dundee 1-1 St Mirren – November 10, 2018
Kenny Miller struck to earn new boss McIntyre his first point as Dundee manager.
That came after a hotly-disputed penalty award for Simeon Jackson, who opened the scoring for the Paisley Saints.
Dundee 0-2 St Mirren – January 21, 2017
Premiership Dundee hosted Championship St Mirren in the Scottish Cup but the cup curse continued to haunt the Dark Blues.
Jack Ross wasn’t long in the job for the Buddies as they struggled at the foot of the second tier.
But they shrugged that off with goals from former Dee John Sutton and Jack Baird.
For Dundee it was a desperately poor day against a lower league struggler.
Dundee 1-3 St Mirren – December 27, 2014
A game memorable for a superb individual goal for Buddies prodigy Stevie Mallan as he slalomed through the Dundee midfield before curling the ball into the corner.
That added to a double from now Scotland international Kenny McLean as bottom side St Mirren shocked Paul Hartley’s Dark Blues.
Paul McGinn would see red before Gary Irvine got one back against his old side.
James McPake, Kevin Thomson and Martin Boyle all started for Dundee while a certain John McGinn led the line for Saints as a 20-year-old.
Dundee 2-1 St Mirren – March 6, 2013
If you go back far enough, you finally find a Dundee victory. That’s five without defeat at Dens for St Mirren.
The last Dark Blues win came amid the ‘Team 12’ season of struggle.
Dougie Imrie had opened the scoring before John Baird levelled matters and Jim McAlister earned three points for the Dee.
That cut the difference between the sides to 14 points as Dundee headed for relegation.
Dundee 0-2 St Mirren – August 11, 2012
Parachuted into the Premiership at the last minute, Barry Smith’s Dundee suffered early defeat at home to St Mirren thanks to Kenny McLean and Sam Parkin goals.
Dundee 4-0 St Mirren – December 10, 2005
To finish off, the Dark Blues had a much happier time against the Buddies around the turn of the century and enjoyed a 4-0 thumping off St Mirren in the First Division.
On target was a youthful Kevin McDonald early on before a late surge saw Craig O’Reilly grab a brace and Andrew Ferguson make it 4-0.
A young Charlie Adam came off the bench for St Mirren that day.
