Rock, meet hard place.

In the three games since Craig McLeish reinstated PA3's familiar back three set-up (in name, at least), the Buddies have arrested the slide of conceding at will that dominated the second month (or so) of their season.

A single goal conceded in each of the win over Dundee, draw with Hibs and narrow loss to Motherwell is in stark contrast to the 11 that poured in over the three defeats prior.

There are plenty of arguments that the back three system adopted is more 'progressive' than it might seem, for lack of a better word.

Calvin Ramsay's rampages into the final third versus Dundee and plenty of further positional rotations are evidence of that. However, the return of Marcus Fraser and familiar support around Alex Gogic has restored something like the usual security to the Saints backline which has defined so much of the past few years.

Goals conceded are one thing, but perhaps the more important metric are shots on target. Hibs' bundled opener was their only shot on target.

Motherwell managed a mere two, though handing them a late one from the penalty spot was always likely to end in tears.

Both sides had plenty of the ball and plenty of chances created, with some misses constituting the riding of luck for the Saints, but conceding in flurries appears to have been successfully interrupted.

However, this shift comes with a cost. The Saints have toiled to create with the same conviction and frequency that defined the more promising moments of the early season. A body less in midfield, more discipline required than carrying a free role behind the striker, and the roads to attacking intent have visibly narrowed.

Injuries to key figures are not helping, with Ismeal Kabia and Nikolas Agrafiotis seemingly holding irreplaceable qualities in the current squad - lumping pressure on Eseosa Sule, Chris Mochrie and others to contort themselves into playing another's game.

Rangers await at the weekend and the ineligible Paul Nsio will join the suspended Ryan Carr in sitting this one out.

With a full complement available, the challenge would have been significant enough. As it stands, the manager will need to pull something from somewhere to repeat the quality shown on the side's most recent visit to Ibrox.