Rush for safety
Goal spree against relegation rivals puts Paisley side on the verge of completing great escape. By Nick Rodger
St Mirren 5 Mallan 27, 39, 59, McHattie 48og, Morgan 87 Raith Rovers 0
THE Saints didn’t just go marching in. They went marauding forth. This was a quite devastating display of pace, industry, invention and attacking zeal from St Mirren as Stephen Mallan’s debated hattrick helped obliterate hapless Raith Rovers and moved the Paisley men to the brink of Championship safety.
The great escape is almost complete. Jack Ross’s team, once so far adrift at the bottom you needed a bathysphere to find them, now cannot be automatically relegated but still may need to plunder something against Hibernian next weekend to ensure they avoid the relegation play-off.
On this sizzling form, they won’t be fretting about the trip to Easter Road.
“I would’ve taken any manner of win but to do it with that kind of performance was outstanding,” said manager Ross. “Our first goal was not to finish bottom. The next challenge is not to finish in the bottom two. I believe we can go to Easter Road and be positive and any game we go into now, we are more than capable of winning.”
Given the perilous position of both sides, the nail-nibbling nervousness in the stadium prior to kick-off was tangible. You wouldn’t have been surprised if you had gone down to the refreshment kiosk to find they were advertising a steak and gravy pie and a cup of nervous tension at a competitive price.
The hosts started with purpose and made a decisive breakthrough in the 27th minute. Cammy Smith got himself to the byeline and angled the ball back for the on-rushing Mallan, who cushioned a neat finish past Pavol Penksa.
A goal to the good, St Mirren advanced with an added spring in their step and their energy and drive had the Raith defenders in a right old fluster at times.
Lewis Morgan whipped in a curling effort which Penksa had to palm to safety but the Raith custodian could do nothing to prevent a second St Mirren goal with six minutes of the half left. Mallan’s free-kick from the edge of the box took a considerable deflection off the Rovers wall and bounced beyond Penksa and into the net.
“I know there was a deflection but it was on target so I don’t care what anybody says. I claim it,” said Mallan, who appeared with the match ball afterwards.
The visitors must have been happy to get into the dressing room but probably wished they had stayed there as, a couple of minutes after the resumption, Kevin McHattie inadvertently headed the ball into his own net.
St Mirren continued to bound forward and Mallan almost struck again with a dipping drive which Penksa had to tip over at full stretch but the St Mirren man would not be denied.
On the hour, he put the finishing touches to a delightful passage and curled a superb 25-yarder into the top corner. Morgan had a goal disallowed at the end of another barnstorming move but at the end he rattled home a fifth goal to complete a rousing rout.
Raith manager John Hughes questioned the character of his players ahead of their win or bust encounter with Ayr United next week.
“There are too many guys in there who think they are better than they are,” said Hughes. “And that’s a recipe for disaster.”