All Saints clash leaves both clubs still looking for first league win
ST MIRREN must have had a haunting feeling of déjà vu as they saw Glenn Middleton stand over a St Johnstone free-kick 25 yards from their goal. Earlier in the year, the Paisley club’s dreams of reaching the Scottish Cup final ended when the on-loan Rangers player curled his shot from a similar position beyond goalkeeper Jak Alnwick and into the net. It was Middleton who again stepped up in the final minute of this contest after Hayden Muller’s lung-bursting run had been unceremoniously halted by Joe Shaughnessy. Just as at Hampden, the forward’s shot beat the wall but this time cracked against the St Mirren crossbar before being cleared. It was the closest either side came to scoring in a scrappy but engaging contest that leaves both sides still looking for their first league win of the season. St Mirren felt that the decision to chalk off a Conor McCarthy header for offside in the first half was marginal at best but a draw was the fairest outcome on a day when neither side really put on a performance worthy of a victory. ‘It’s disappointing because, based on the first 45 minutes, I think it’s a game we should have won,’ said St Mirren boss Jim Goodwin, who saw midfielder Ethan Erhahon sent off in injury time for a second booking. ‘You could sense the tension around the place in the last 15 minutes, the fans were getting frustrated but credit to the players for getting another point on the board. ‘I think the goal we had disallowed was onside. I watched it back with the analyst. Conor McCarthy is in line with Shaun Rooney. Those are the kind of decisions you need to go for you. ‘The linesman was too quick to put his flag up, it was a poor decision.’ Much of St Mirren’s positive play tends to go through Jamie McGrath, making it essential they hold on to him. Middlesbrough are the latest club to show an interest and Goodwin hopes the club will ward off their advances. He added: ‘We have a valuation for Jamie. We need to stand
strong and be firm. If the valuation is met, who knows what might happen and we’ve got a contingency plan in place should that happen. ‘I don’t want to lose Jamie. No manager wants to lose their best players but we need to be fair to him as well.’ His opposite number, Callum Davidson, was also dismissive of Hibernian’s reported interest in defender Jamie McCart and not overly disappointed at leaving Paisley with only a point. ‘Unfortunately, we’re just not able to put the ball in the back of the net at the moment,’ he said. ‘Glenn had a fantastic strike at the end and on another day it would have ended up in the top corner. He gave us a spark when he came on and so did Kano (Chris Kane). It’s a game we go away from feeling positive about.’ By the end of a competitive contest the only surprise was that the game hadn’t been graced with a goal. A lot of that was down to the performances of both goalkeepers who seemed in the mood to impress for disparate reasons. Alnwick had looked suspect at several of the Celtic goals in St Mirren’s 6-0 loss the previous weekend and set about his business here like a man eager to atone. One save, as he sprawled full length to push away a David Wotherspoon effort, was very impressive, while another to keep out Callum Hendry’s diving header also caught the eye. At the other end, Zander Clark added to his growing reputation with a number of saves. As he prepares to join up with the Scotland squad for their World Cup qualifying triple-header, one save right at the end of the first half — when he somehow repelled Richard Tait’s shot from a matter of yards — would have had Steve Clarke salivating.
The one time Clark was beaten in the first half — by McCarthy’s header — the offside flag spared him, despite Goodwin’s later protests.