Taylor a bright spark for St Mirren

STEPHEN ROBINSON didn’t expect to do any business in the January transfer window, but in Richard Taylor the St Mirren boss appears to have discovered another diamond.

The towering defender joined St Mirren on a short- term deal until the summer on the expiry of his contract with Irish club Waterford. Taylor’s arrival was only accommodated by Jay Henderson’s loan exit to Inverness Caley Thistle.

But already the signing appears to have been worth any potential risk with Taylor putting in a monumental effort against Hearts on his first start – despite a 1- 0 defeat at Tynecastle.

“It was an eventful game and it was good to get going again,” said Taylor of his first start in the stripes.

“This is the standard. These games are the reason I came here and I’m looking forward to more of the same. I wouldn’t say I enjoyed being so busy and making so many blocks, but that’s my job and I’ll do it when I need to.

“We’ve got a great team. We’ve got leaders in the squad and everyone wants to work for each other. We want to get the best outcome we can out of every game.”

It might have been one of his first tastes of Scottish football, but already Taylor has been left aggrieved by a VAR decision. St Mirren were denied shouts for a penalty after the ball ricocheted off Kye Rowles in the box. Referee David Munro waved play on and was not asked to check the pitchside monitor with VAR backing the on- field decision.

Taylor said: “The penalty has got to be given. I know you can’t get everything. I was off the pitch at the time, but I could definitely see it from the stand. It’s a poor decision, what else can you say.”