Sore Saints will soar
Buddies vow to use Covid punishment injustice to fire them up table
1 ST MIRREN 1 ABERDEEN FRASER WILSON AT ST MIRREN PARK JOE SHAUGHNESSY insists St Mirren will use a seething sense of injustice over their Covid-19 punishments to fire them off the bottom of the Premiership.
The Buddies sunk to the foot of the table after a draw with Aberdeen in which they really should have taken all three points in a dominant display.
But far more damaging was Thursday’s SPFL ruling which saw the Paisley men forfeit postponed games against Motherwell and Hamilton with both being recorded as 3-0 wins for the opposition.
It’s left Saints – who have now gone eight games unbeaten on the park – with it all to do in the battle against relegation.
But as the Buddies’ board mull over an appeal against the points penalty, skipper Shaughnessy says the players are using it as motivation.
He said: “It’s disappointing, especially when we’re trying to do everything right. Two 3-0 defeats as a punishment is never good.
“But you just use it as motivation. We would’ve preferred them to come to a different decision.
“We have had a lot of issues with Covid. But thankfully we’re out the other end of it and hopefully that will now be it and we can concentrate on football. I think it that does make our spirit stronger.
“A little sense of injustice and we’ll use it to our advantage, try to pull together even more and kick-on to getting more results to push us up the league.”
Performances like Saturday’s which saw Jamie McGrath cancel out Jonny Hayes’ opener from the penalty spot, certainly give them hope.
A week on from knocking Aberdeen out of the Betfred Cup to reach the quarter-finals they dominated the 10-man Dons again but were left to rue missed opportunities – none better than Lee Erwin’s sitter in the third minute of injury time.
The St Mirren substitute found himself right in the middle of goal, eight yards out and only Andy Considine on the line to beat but somehow scuffed his shot straight at the Scotland defender.
Shaughnessy said: “It was a good chance and you would expect him to put them away. You would normally want the ball to fall to him in that kind of situation but in this case it wasn’t to be.
“I think we should have won, especially in the second half after their player got sent off. I thought we really dominated and we should have scored with the chances we had in the second half.
“But it’s another game we haven’t lost. It’s still a good result getting a point against Aberdeen who are a top three side in the league.
“The performance was good and in fact over the last six or seven games the performances have been decent. We just need to put our chances away and if we do that I think we’ll be fine.”
Aberdeen welcomed Lewis Ferguson back after his two-week spell of isolation but the midfielder is set to go straight back into cold storage after seeing red in the 51st minute.
Booked for a lunge on star man McGrath after six minutes he saw yellow for a second time for pulling back Jon Obika early in the second half. Bobby Madden’s decision baffled Derek McInnes and the second yellow certainly looked soft.
The Dons had been second best up until that point though with St Mirren using the pace and trickery of Ilkay Durmus and Dylan Connolly to great effect to get in behind and both forced fine saves from Joe Lewis in the opening spell.
McGrath and Jake Doyle-Hayes were pulling the strings in the middle of the park and Connolly should have fired Saints ahead only to see his effort from 16 yards fly over the bar.
And it came back to bite them when Hayes headed the Dons into a 38th-minute lead. Matty Kennedy hit the byeline on the left and his deep cross found the onrushing Irishman
steaming in at the back post to thump a header past Jak Alnwick.
Stung by the goal, St Mirren immediately fought back to level. But in controversial circumstances as Obika’s flick caught Tommie Hoban on the hand and Madden pointed to the spot.
There appeared little the Dons defender could do but McGrath wasn’t protesting and slotted home from 12 yards.
Aberdeen’s task got even harder six minutes into the second half as Ferguson saw red. It forced the Dons back onto their 18-yard line as Saints stepped up the tempo.
Durmus missed a glaring opportunity when he shot straight at Lewis and sub Cammy MacPherson saw a sweet volley whistle just over.
Yet Ryan Edmondson could have won it for Aberdeen in the closing three minutes when he broke clear on the right only to see his low drive well held by Alnwick.
Then came the moment Erwin won’t want to watch back as somehow he couldn’t beat Considine on the line after Lewis had blocked Richard Tait’s close-range header.
Despite the missed opportunities there were plenty of positives for Jim Goodwin, not least another impressive performances from Doyle-Hayes who is fast becoming a standout after signing a short-term deal last month.
Shaughnessy said: “He’s come in and done really well. He tidies up everything and makes our job a lot easier. You just give him the ball and he keeps it all the time and uses it well. He’s settled in very well and it’s good to see.”