Disappointing day for victorious Saints
MIRREN MATCHES AS THEY WERE REPORTED AT THE TIME
St Mirren............3 Edinburgh City ...0
It was a day of firsts for the Buddies on Saturday.
St Mirren’s first competitive meeting with Edinburgh City, Tom Walsh’s first start – and goal – and it was Gordon Scott’s first home game as chairman.
Meanwhile, it was probably the first time a team has won three out of four group games and not progressed through to the next round of the competition.
Goals from Lawrence Shankland, Walsh and Jack Baird proved not to be enough for St Mirren, who deserved to have won by a much wider scoreline.
St Mirren manager Alex Rae elected to ring the changes following last weekend’s drubbing at the hands of Hamilton Accies.
Scott Gallacher replaced Jamie Langfield in goal, while Jordan Stewart came in for the injured Gary Irvine.
Elsewhere, Tom Walsh made his first start at the expense of Calum Gallagher and Lawrence Shankland was favoured over John Sutton.
Saints headed into the tie knowing that nothing less than a high-scoring four-goal victory would be enough to secure their passage through to the next round of the competition.
The Buddies were dominating possession in the early part as Edinburgh City struggled to get out of their own half.
It was plainly down to St Mirren’s pressing nature that they limited the side from the capital to no more than a couple of touches before losing the ball.
Their pressure was starting to show and Shankland had another crack at opening the scoring with seven minutes on the clock. Neat link- up play between David Clarkson and Kyle Hutton resulted in the latter squaring for Shankland, whose effort was parried behind at the near post.
But the on-loan striker didn’t have to wait long to get on the score-sheet as five minutes later it was 1-0 to the Buddies. Shankland was on hand to simply nod home Lewis Morgan’s terrific ball to the back post with 12 minutes on the clock.
Chances were coming quick and fast for the Buddies and debutant Tom Walsh was next to go close as the Paisley side went in desperate search of goals.
Shankland then tried his luck again but his point blank header was somehow prevented from crossing the line by Calum Antell in goal.
But the fans didn’t have ling to wait as Walsh doubled Saints’ advantage by firing home 20 yards out after being teed up by Shankland.
And with 33 minutes on the clock it was 3-0, with Jack Baird firing home into empty net after Antell’s save from Shankland’s original effort.
Andy Webster then had a header cleared off of the line right on half-time but St Mirren headed into the break fully in the belief that they would find the vital fourth goal required to take them above Ayr Untied.
Into the second half and the Buddies started in the same attacking manner.
Walsh was continuing to cause problems down the left flank and went close with a bouncing effort that almost caught out Antell.
Despite their promising start, St Mirren were struggling to find that important fourth goal, with Rae electing to bring on Ryan Hardie, John Sutton and Calum Gallagher all in quick succession.
Hardie came closest to finding that fourth goal but his strike from the edge of the box smacked the advertising just wide of the post.
The on-loan Rangers striker then had an effort cleared off the line as Saints continued to crank up the pressure.
Wave after wave of St Mirren attacks were thwarted as they looked to find the fourth goal that would take them into the next round.
The substitutes had made a difference and Sutton was next to have a strike blocked on the line as the clock signalled five minutes remaining but the frustration clearly toll time eventually ran out at a subdued St Mirren Park.