Goodwin laments call to sell captain as Saints Dealt hammer blow
JIM Goodwin probably felt yesterday couldn’t get much worse after news broke that St Mirren had sold Kyle Magennis to Hibernian but he was wrong about that as Lewis Ferguson’s stoppage- time goal handed the Paisley side a gutting defeat to pile on the misery.
It was feeling of despair the manager shared with players who put so much into the game, only to lose at the bitter end when the majority of them slumped to the deck in disappointment when referee
Gavin Duncan blew the final whistle. Ferguson’s sixth goal of the season moved the Dons seven points clear of fifth- place Kilmarnock with a game in hand and left St Mirren stuck at the foot of the table after a sixth successive defeat.
Not that Goodwin was in the mood to diguise his disgust at the decision to sell the player by making it crystal clear he was against the decision to accept the Easter Road club’s third offer in as many days.
“Kyle Magennis was a big player for us, I made him captain and was looking forward to working with him. Unfortunately things have changed overnight. I didn’t want to sell Kyle Magennis, you’ll need to ask Tony
Fitzpatrick or someone on the board,” he said.
As if to emphasise a lack of resources in a season where Premiership teams are allowed to introduce five substitutes during a game, Goodwin only felt able to put four on the bench, including back- up goalkeeper Dean Lyness.
That was in stark contrast to the home side who listed nine in total, including the likes of Funso Ojo, Dylan McGeouch, Shay Logan and £ 800,000 Venezuela internationalist Ronald Hernandez.
And Aberdeen stretched their opponents almost to breaking point with pace and movement that opened up a plethora of early opportunities.
Thankfully Jak Alwnick was at the top of his game, blocking a Marley Watkins cutback as Scott Wright waited for an inevitable tap- in, then parrying Jonny Hayes 20 yard shot after the former Celtic wingback’s dash from his own half. Marcus Fraser reached the loose ball just ahead of Niall McGinnn but once again it was all Alwnick’s work as the goalkeeper completed a busy first few minutes with a full length diving save to push Lewis Ferguson’s long range shot wide.
Collectively the visitors grew in confidence having survived
that early onslaught and they actually began to look the more threatening for the remainder of the half.
So much so that it took a last ditch tackle from Tommie Hoban to prevent Jon Obika taking full advantage of a threaded pass on the half hour mark from Lee Erwin, who went on to fire a shot of his own just over the bar in first half stoppage time.
The initial impressions after the break were also encouraging, especially when teenager Erhahon lashed them into the lead in 54 minutes.
The ball spun invitingly into the midfielder’s path but what followed was truly stunning as it was propelled into the top right hand corner of Joe Lewis net with power and precision, forcing McInnes to go his bench to find a response.
Leeds’ on- loan striker Ryan Edmondson and Connor McLennan replaced McGinn and Wright with the former playing a key part in the equaliser as Aberdeen’s increasing pressure finally paid dividends.
McLennan and Ryan Hedges combined to open up space at the edge of the penalty area ruthlessly exploited by Watkins who steered a shot into the bottom corner with Alwnick left helpless for once.
Cruelly, that was the case again with just seconds to go as Ferguson found space for a shot from the edge of the box that could hardly have placed better.