Esmael’s the hero once more
Esmael Goncalves came within inches of netting a second-half hat-trick for St Mirren on a day when the Buddies completed their own stunning threepiece.
The Portuguese striker led from the front as an impressive Saints performance bagged the club a place in the Scottish Cup quarter-finals with a 2-0 victory against St Johnstone in Danny Lennon and Tommy Craig’s finest week yet in charge of the Saints.
Goncalves scored both goals as he completed a unique goalscoring hattrick.
Following his loan signing from Rio Ave, the Saints number 77 has now found the net on three debut matches by scoring against Celtic, Inverness and the Perth side in the League Cup, SPL and Scottish Cup respectively.
And he put Steve Lomas’ side to the sword on Saturday with two great goals on a day – which the St Johnstone boss himself admitted - he could have scored four.
Saints started with only one change to the side who defeated Inverness 2- 1 three days earlier, with Kenny McLean dropping out of the side, and teenager John McGinn taking his place in midfield. There was no start for Newcastle United loan ace Paul Dummett, who was on Saints five-man bench.
The first-half started the way it would eventually finish, with the Perth side enjoying early possession. It took St Mirren until just shy of the 20-minute mark to warm the palms of Mannus in the St Johnstone goal as a six-man battle in the centre of the park led to few early chances for either side.
With both teams lined up in a 3-5-2 formation on a bitterly cold afternoon, space in the centre of the park came at a premium, with Newton, McGowan and McGinn matched by Doughty, Cregg and Liam Craig respectively.
However, the home Saints started to control the first-half down either flank, with Gary Teale and Goncalves getting the better of both Scobbie and Mackay as they searched for Thompson in the box.
A penalty claim from the Portuguese striker mid- way through the half could have got Saints off the mark in the match, but Craig Thomson rightly waved away the shouts as both sides found creating chances difficult.
However, St Johnstone found their way back into the match as the half ticked by, with Liam Craig in the middle of the park linking well with Rowan Vine on the left flank.
With 10 minutes remaining in the first period, a terrific impulse save from Craig Samson denied Vine’s deflected volley at the back post, before Mackay swung a cross from right to Vine again at the backpost.
This time his bullet- header was clawed from the air in sensational style by the leaping Samson to maintain parity – a truly stunning save at 0-0.
The visitors were in control and, based on their number of chances, pushed for what would have been a deserved half-time lead.
The chance came with two minutes left in the half, Tade’s breakaway run finding an unmarked MacLean in the box. Lacking composure, the striker lashed the ball over Samson’s bar.
A change of formation to 4-4-2 at half-time sparked Danny Lennon’s side back to life – John McGinn moving to the left-side of midfield as Thomson and Goncalves joined forces up front.
It was a tactical switch that would win the match for Saints, as four minutes later Goncalves netted his third goal in as many matches to put Saints 1-0 up.
A terrific cross from the again mightily impressive Gary Teale floated over the head of the St Johnstone centre-half and into the run of Goncalves, who angled a header home to give Mannus no chance and St Mirren the lead.
A tame challenge from Liam Craig just inside the St Johnstone half earned the midfielder a yellow card seven minutes later. From the free kick came Saints and Goncalves’ second goal. The ball launched into the box was cushioned perfectly by Thompson on to his strike partner. Goncalves – holding off two defenders - took it down on his chest, turned, and slammed home to make it 2-0.
Two minutes later and the 3,507 crowd at St Mirren Park were on their feet as the striker raced from midfield oneon-one with Mannus to try and grab a sensational hat- trick. However, his
curling right-footed strike licked the far post and rolled wide.
The Portuguese star, linking with Thompson and Teale, was giving both McCracken and Wright a nightmarish second- half, running with pace and keeping the ball well as they both struggled to cope with him, missing a second one-on-one opportunity to bag his hat-trick.
However, up front for St Johnstone,
Nigel Hasselbaink – on as a second-half substitute – offered the visitors another attacking option.
But a strong defensive performance yet again from Danny Lennon’s centrehalf pairing of McAusland and Goodwin ensured that only Liam Craig’s 85th minute drive would test Craig Samson, as Saints crowned a terrific week by booking their place in the Scottish Cup quarter- finals.