Three and easy
WITH FOOTBALL IN COLD STORAGE WE TAKE A LOOK AT OLD ST
Craig Ritchie
Saturday, January 30 – a day many St Mirren supporters can claim – I was there.
It had been a long time coming. So long that three managers have been in the hotseat since Saints last won a home league game in May last year.
The weekend’s 3-1 victory over Alloa Athletic may not have been the prettiest affair, but at least it is a monkey off the back as the Paisley side look to progress towards the upper echelons of the Scottish Championship table.
Boss Alex Rae admits Saints are still in a relegation dogfight, but he will have been much happier heading home on Saturday night with the three points in the bag – three points closer to the final promotion playoff spot.
The manager elected to hand home
Scottish Championship Dumbarton 1 Livingston 0 RaithRovers P QoS P Rangers 1 Falkirk 0
St Mirren 3 Alloa 1
Scottish Championship P W D L Pts 22 18 2 2 56 21 15 3 3 48 23 13 7 3 46 20 8 4 8 28 20 8 4 8 28 20 6 6 8 24 22 6 4 12 22 21 5 6 10 21 23 4 4 15 16 22 3 2 17 11
Rangers Hibernian Falkirk Raith
QoS Morton Dumbarton St Mirren Livingston Alloa
Next match Scottish Championship St Mirren v Queen of Sth Saturday, February 6, at 3pm
debuts to Rocco Quinn and on-loan striker David Clarkson, with Scott Agnew dropping to the bench from last week’s game with Hibs.
But the Buddies couldn’t have got off to a worse start as they fell behind inside the opening 10 minutes.
Referee Craig Charleston seemed intent on taking centre stage, with a ropey performance throughout the 90 minutes.
And the Saints support were angered – and somewhat miffed – by the man in the middle’s decision to award the visitors a penalty,with only nine minutes on the clock.
Alloa striker Isaac Layne turned marker on Keith Watson, before firing a tame strike, which was blocked by the St Mirren man.
However, to the disbelief of those in the crowd, Charleston pointed to the spot and booked Watson for supposedly handling, despite his back being to the ball, allowing Layne to step up and covert the resulting spot-kick.
Despite the early setback, St Mirren looked to force themselves back into the tie.
Half-chances for Stephen Mallan and Clarkson registered the Buddies first strikes on target, though Michael Duffy spurned a chance to put Alloa 2-0 up at the other end.
Star Saint
David Clarkson
It would have been easy to pick Watson for his striking efforts, but Clarkson seems to have sparked a partnership up top already. The loanee held the ball up, displayed good passing and should find the net in the coming weeks. A good start from the new man.
Match Facts
Score St Mirren 3 Alloa 1
Scorers Watson (37), Gallagher (59), Mallan (90+3), Layne (9, pen)
Bookings Watson (9), Hamilton (18), Gallacher (40), Hill (74), R Crawford (77)
Referee Craig Charleston
Attendance 2,589
Teams: St Mirren: Langfield, Watson, Baird, Webster, Kelly, Gallagher, Mallan, Quinn, Howieson (Cooper 45), Clarkson (Irvine 82), Shankland (Thompson 88). Subs not used: Wilks, Agnew, McMullan and Gow.
Alloa Athletic: Gallacher, Doyle, McKenna, Hill (Marr 75), Hamilton (Ferns 82), O’Brien, Holmes (R Crawford 61), Duffy, McManus, Megginson, Layne. Subs not used: D Crawford, McAusland, Williams and Hetherington
Calum Gallagher’s daisy-cutter had the The half-time whistle was greeted with was unaware of Gallagher, and the support on their feet, but the St Mirren boos as the St Mirren support vented their Saints striker nipped in to head his side man could only fire wide of the goal. frustration towards the performance of ahead.
But Saints would go in level at halfthe game’s referee. Even though they had fallen behind, time, as sinner turned saint in the 37th His re-emergence, following the break, basement side Alloa weren’t for giving minute.up.wasmetinthesamefashion.
Keith Watson displayed the skills of a St Mirren came out the stronger of the Headers from Dougie Hill and forward player as he jinked clear inside two sides, and eventually hit the front Jason Marr came close to giving them the Alloa box, before unleashing an shortly before the hour mark. an equaliser as Jack Ross’s men unstoppable left-footed effort beyond Lawrence Shankland’s blocked effort attempted to find their way back into the sprawling Scott Gallacher to level looped tamely in the Alloa box. the match. proceedings. However, full-back Colin Hamilton But it was their intent on scoring
that would be their own undoing as St Mirren clinched the victory in the dying seconds.
Piling forward in the closing stages, Alloa were hit on the break in the 93rd minute as Mallan pounced on Mitch Megginson’s tame back pass to carry the ball over 45 yards before coolly slotting past Gallacher.
In doing so, he ensured the three points would remain in Paisley for the first time, in a long time.