Saints walk on Ayr
They may be bottom of the league but Paisley’s finest hit visitors for six as they continue to dig deep, reports Neil Cameron
ST MIRREN are, according to Brendan Rodgers, the second best team Celtic have faced in this domestic season. It’s a debatable point; however, one thing which can definitely be said about Paisley’s finest is despite spending most of the past seven months bottom of the Championship they are not, and never have been, the worst team in the league.
They remain 10th out of 10 but are now only a point behind Ayr, utterly outclassed here, with a game in hand and although the teams from third bottom up do keep collecting points, St Mirren have the momentum with six matches remaining. Their future is in their own hands.
“That’s the message we stressed to them beforehand,” said Jack Ross the manager. “We’ve had to work extremely hard over the last few months to be alive and kicking. I am as guilty as others in that I sometimes forget how cut adrift we were.
“So to get to this stage is hard, we’ve had to dig deep, but we are still in the most difficult position in the league but there is a belief among that group. They have been performing like a team from top of the league.”
Ayr actually started brightly if you can believe that in a match in which they were a goal behind after five minutes and ended up third best in a contest between two teams. With their first attack, St Mirren grabbed a crucial lead they were never going to relinquish.
Stevie Mallan is one of those players who really should be playing in the Premiership. It was a delight to watch the skilful way he guided his half-volley from 20 yards through a penalty area filled with Ayr defenders and into the net’s bottom corner.
The lead was doubled on 20 minutes. From a free-kick on the right, Mallan’s delivery was excellent, as was Gary McKenzie’s header, the defender being slightly off balance and yet still managing to send the ball past helpless Ayr goalkeeper Greg Fleming.
The game was over minutes later. A brilliant run from St Mirren right-back Stelios Demetriou took him into the Ayr box, his cross found Cammy Smith whose shot was blocked on the line, only for the ball to fall at the feet of captain Stephen McGinn and he did his job from a few yards.
Mallon came agonisingly close to a superb solo goal on 27 minutes as he feigned and dribbled his way past three Ayr defenders, his shot at the end a whisker away.
Ayr were nowhere, St Mirren everywhere. With 10 minutes of the first half to go, after a period when the visitors seemed strangely reluctant to clear their lines, a Cameron pass meant Kyle Magennis could beat Fleming to the ball which he took past the keeper and from an acute angle managed to score.
Four became five seven minutes after the break when Lewis Morgan calmly sent his shot past poor Fleming from 18 yards with almost a touch of arrogance. Morgan was later to go off with a suspected leg fracture.
To be fair to Ayr, Paul Cairney with determination and then Faird El Alagui with a header got two goals back for Ayr before Smith got a sixth for St Mirren from close range. By then it was getting silly.
Ian McCall, the Ayr manager, knows what he’s doing but on this evidence he has his work cut out over the remaining matches.
“I don’t think the scoreline flattered St Mirren,” he said. “The players put a lot into Tuesday’s game and three or four haven’t trained at all. We won’t let the defeat affect us. Next week is a must-win, they all are now, and we just have to move on. But it’s never nice to lose like that.”