Alex & boss are now the best of lates

All’s forgiven as tardy star seals win

Stephen Robinson says late home hero Alex Greive is forgiven and got his just rewards for doing homework on the plane during his absence.

The St Mirren sub smashed his team into third spot in the Premiership with an injury-time winner to lash Livingston.

Boss Robinson was left miffed at the fact Greive didn’t make it back to training until Friday after New Zealand duty when his Australian team-mates Keanu Baccus and Ryan Strain returned from the same part of the globe on Wednesday.

Baccus shook off jet- lag to open the scoring and, after Livi sub Bruce Anderson equalised following a missed penalty from team-mate Sean Kelly and a red card for Saints striker Jonah Ayunga, the Kiwi knocked home the clincher.

Robinson ( below) revealed that, inf l ight, Greive was swotting up on set-pieces and clips on video ahead of the contest and that graft paid off.

Robinson said: “Credit to Alex. I gave him a little bit of stick when he came back but it’s not quite a trip back from Belfast I suppose, it was from Auckland.

“It’s a question I haven’t had answer ed ye t . New

Zealand are probably a smaller association than the Australian boys. They came back

Tu e s d a y to train

Wednesday, Alex wasn’t back until Friday. We’ll look at the travel for the boys a lot more closely next time. “He repaid us with a goal and he’s very humble. He’s committed to St Mirren and did all his prep on the plane home.

“He’s got his rewards. He’s a great boy with huge enthusiasm so we’ll forgive him.” Greive’s last-gasp moment capped a thrilling end to a contest which took over an hour to get going.

With wind ruining the contest, home hero Alex Gogic and visiting pair Scott Pittman and Ayo Obileye wasted chances before Saints took a 69th minute lead. Declan Gallacher dropped a short throw to sub Ryan Flynn with the Livi backline asleep and the delivery was headed home by Baccus for his second club goal.

That sparked a frenzied finish. Saints were reduced to 10 when Ayunga cleared a Pittman shot away from goal with his arm. Referee Craig Napier pointed to the spot but Kelly blazed over.

Livi kept fighting and equalised four minutes from the end of normal time when Joel Nouble’s cross eluded the home defence and sub Anderson powered home a diving header. At that stage, the visitors were likelier winners but Robinson’s boys dug deep to win it when Greive scored to make it five wins out of six. Robinson added: “Character is the one word I would use to sum it up. We outbattled Livingston.”