10-man Tangerines hold on to beat the Buddies
If St Mirren manager Oran Kearney was looking for positives after his side were dumped out of the William Hill Scottish Cup by opponents who were left trailing in their wake when Jack Ross’s side won the Championship last season, then at least he can now concentrate on his club’s relegation battle.
No Premiership club has scored fewer goals than the bottom club, who also have the worst defensive record in the top flight.
The optimism which their fans felt as they powered their way to promotion disappeared when Ross left for Sunderland and there have been few signs that Kearney can turn things around.
Even their second-half fightback here had more to do with a moment of madness from United midfielder Calum Butcher, who foolishly got himself sent off with almost half an hour of the tie still to play.
United had looked the more positive from the first whistle but neither goalkeeper had much to do until the Tannadice men broke the deadlock after quarter of an hour.
Overlapping full-back Charlie Seaman set things in motion with a lung-bursting run to the touchline and a cross to the far post.
Nicky Clark had a header parried by Vaclav Hladky, who also did well to beat away Pavol Safranko’s effort from the rebound.
However, it was a case of third time lucky for the visitors when Peter Pawlett tried to pass the ball into the net and Safranko stuck out a boot to wrong-foot the helpless Hladky.
Three minutes later, Pawlett’s up-and-under left Safranko with only the keeper to beat.
The Tangerines’ leading scorer lifted the ball over him but didn’t get enough on it and Mihai Popescu got back to clear.
The Czech was standing between Saints and humiliation at that stage and he threw himself at Pawlett’s feet to block the midfielder’s shot from point-blank range before keeping out a long-range effort from former Buddy Cammy Smith.
However, he was left helpless a minute before the break when Jamie Robson’s long ball was misjudged by Popescu and Clark stole in front of the defender to loft the ball over Hladky and into the unguarded net.
Saints were jeered from the field when the half-time whistle blew.
Under-fire manager Kearney replaced midfielders Anders Dreyer and Greg Tansey with top scorer Simeon Jackson and Kyle Mcallister for the start of the second half in an attempt to inject some fuel into the engine room.
Paul Mcginn was lucky to escape with a booking when he swung his arm at Smith to prevent the midfielder bursting past, and Smith joined him in Willie Collum’s notebook when he brought down Ryan Flynn.
However, Butcher handed the Paisley outfit a lifeline in the 62nd minute when he clattered into Ryan Flynn, catching him late and high.
It was a moment of madness from Butcher and that forced Tannadice boss Robbie Neilson into making some changes of his own.
There was a let-off for the visitors when Popescu saw a piledriver smack the underside of Benjamin Siegrist’s crossbar before being cleared by Pawlett.
At least Saints were finally putting the Taysiders under some pressure and Siegrist fisted away a venomous 25-yarder from Cammy Macpherson before the Buddies pulled one back 13 minutes from time. Duckens Nazon fired in a shot from the edge of the penalty area which hit the back of the net, after coming off United’s Pawlett, to provide hope that they might force a replay.
Mcallister had looked bright since coming on and his deliveries from the right posed problems for United but he let himself down by picking up a yellow card for a lunge at Pawlett.
Saints were throwing everything but the kitchen sink at United at this stage in their search for an equaliser.
There was little chance of being hit with a counter-attack either as the visitors had pulled everyone back in order to hold on to what they had.
There were a few scares as crosses – particularly from Mcallister – fizzed across the face of Siegrist’s goal but there was to be no great escape as the Tannadice 10 held on to claim a place in tomorrow night’s quarterfinal draw.