Saints are in seventh heaven
WITH FOOTBALL IN COLD STORAGE WE TAKE A LOOK AT OLD ST
Hibernian ..........1 St Mirren ...........1
You’re never going to believe it but the Saints are staying up.
In classic St Mirren fashion they left it until the very last game of the season, against the champions no less.
But no one cared among the black and white masses as their side pulled off survival.
What an effort it has been.
In years to come they can say they were there when St Mirren pulled off the greatest of escapes.
They said it could never be done... well it has been.
Rory Loy may have grabbed the goal
that saves Saints’ skin but the side have been fantastic since January.
Credit where it is due, they deserve the plaudits they will surely receive.
What follows now is a summer to look forward to.
This scribe needs a rest... and the players have earned one.
It wasn’t an easy day at the office, the nerves were still shredded, but they got there in the end.
As anticipated, the afternoon was to be spent with one eye on Twitter for updates from the Raith Rovers and Ayr United game, with the other focused on the action on the Easter Road pitch.
And both games started in dramatic fashion as news filtered through to the capital that Raith goalkeeper, Pavol Penska had seen red inside the opening minute of the game at Stark’s Park.
The Slovakian’s dismissal put Saints in pole position to avoid the drop but hearts of the Paisley support were still in their mouths as Hibs started on the front foot.
The champions should have opened the scoring within the opening two minutes when Grant Holt nodded down a tremendous cross field ball into the path of Shinnie.
The on-loan Birmingham City man should have burst the net from 10 yards but fired straight over the bar and into the Saints fans behind the goals.
But as the half wore on, St Mirren appeared to be coming more and more into the tie.
And the bench felt they should had a penalty for their efforts in 17 minutes when Lewis Morgan was sent crashing to the turf by the sliding David Gray.
It was either a penalty or a corner for the visitors but ref Alan Muir decided it was neither, much to the frustration of assistant manager James Fowler who received a telling-off for his protests.
Typical end of season stuff saw the half descend into one of very little opportunities for either side.
A tame effort from Stephen McGinn in 35 minutes saw the Saints show that they were very much in the capital to come away with the three points.
But it looked as though it wasn’t going to be easy as it became apparent Jonny Court had fired Raith ahead at Stark’s to set up a tense atmosphere among the away fans, with the Buddies now just safe on goal difference with under an hour to hold on.
And if that wasn’t bad enough, Saints boss Jack Ross was forced to introduce Stelios two minutes before half-time with Gary Irvine failing to recover from a knock.
St Mirren came out in the second half knowing that they had 45 minutes to save their bacon.
But within two second-half minutes they were back in the relegation places.
Stelios failed to stop a John McGinn cross and this time Holt was on hand to divert the ball home, beating Gary MacKenzie to the ball to finish in the bottom corner from five yards out.
Having failed to get started prior to the goal, the deficit appeared to light a fire under the Buddies.
A fine ball from McGinn, having turned his brother John, found Morgan on the left flank.
The youngster waited for support before squaring for Rory Loy but the striker’s effort was blocked behind for a corner by Darren McGregor.
Loy then had another chance after being slipped through on goal by Kyle Magennis. The striker may have squared
but decided to blast for the near post with Hibs keeper Ofir Marciano on hand to block behind for another set piece.
The Buddies were gunning for the goal that their play was deserving off, and it finally came right before the hour mark.
A fine team move started from Saints’ own byline after Stelios quelled a Hibs attack.
His clearance found Morgan on the left flank and the winger bombed down the pitch, skipping by marker after marker before cutting inside Efe Ambrose and slipping in Magennis.
The youngster darted into the box before being robbed of the ball by Stevie Mallan.
Tricky footwork saw him clear of Jordan Forster only for Loy to do the same before firing across the face of Marciano and into the bottom corner from the angle, sparking joyous scenes among the visiting support.
With 15 minutes remaining, the cheers came out of the away end as it became
apparent that Ayr had been awarded a penalty kick in Kirkcaldy.
But the chants of “We are staying up” were quickly hushed as news trickled through that Alan Forrest had, in fact, missed the spot kick
Typical.
For the final 15 minutes who knows what happened.
It’s mostly a blur of urging Saints to cleat their lines in a bid to keep the score as it was.
Every ball into the St Mirren half was volleyed back up the park. Every Saints attack was targeted towards the corner flag in a bid to waste time.
Alan Muir’s final whistle took an eternity to come it seemed, but when it did — euphoria.
St Mirren were safe, normality restored.
As they said in 2000, the bubble didnae burst. Another season is in the history books, but this one will never be forgotten.