SAINTS ALIVE!
Buddies come out on top in the basement battle as Dundee suffer
WITH each passing week, St Mirren contrive a new way to shoot themselves in the foot.
In midweek, it was striker Simeon Jackson’s ludicrous decision to try a Panenka penalty. Here it was the gift of a goal to Dundee with just 24 seconds on the clock.
Encouragingly for manager Oran Kearney, his players found a way to fix the mistake when it mattered most.
This was a huge result for the Paisley side, one that hauled the club off the bottom of the Premiership table and, just as importantly, inflicted a hammer blow to the morale of the Dundee team that sat immediately above them at the start of the weekend.
With Hamilton Accies losing to Kilmarnock, Kearney can even dare to hope his team may use the last seven fixtures to climb as high as 10th and avoid the trial of a play-off.
The manager revealed pre-match that he had relieved Jackson of penalty-taking duties — what he didn’t mention was that he would be taking the Canadian out of the team altogether in the wake of his moment of self-indulgence.
There was, however, a place for Gary MacKenzie, who had been out of the team for nearly a year with an Achilles injury.
The 33-year-old turned in a most impressive display but Kearney’s decision to change shape and protect the veteran at the heart of a back three was instantly punished.
Dundee full-back James Horsfield and wide man John O’Sullivan ganged up on Saints wing-back Matteo Muzek down the right, with the latter drilling in a low near-post cross at the second attempt.
Ethan Robson was sharpest to react and slotted home a low finish that temporarily drained away all the nerves affecting the away fans behind the goal.
‘Moments like that have shaken us in games,’ said a relieved, yet happy, Kearney afterwards.
‘On Wednesday night, when we missed the penalty then conceded so quickly, it rattled us.
‘We didn’t deal with the “what ifs”. To get a huge “what if” after 24 seconds is one thing but the players learned and dealt with it.’
Although St Mirren started the day at the foot of the table, Dundee have also been struggling to make ground and, after an almost heroic defensive effort against Celtic before the international break, this was a day for altogether different tactics from Jim McIntyre.
Undone by Odsonne Edouard’s stoppage-time winner at Dens, Dundee were never likely to sit in and invite Saints on to them — even if a point would have been a respectable enough haul.
Out went defender Darren O’Dea for striker Andrew Nelson, who returned to add a goal threat at the top end of the pitch.
Signed from Darlington in the transfer window, Nelson had just scored his fourth goal for the club when he aggravated a heel injury celebrating against Livingston in mid-February and he threatened to double Dundee’s lead with a low grass-cutter that zipped wide.
St Mirren didn’t wilt and quickly found a way onto level terms. Duckens Nazon had started on the left of a three-man attack but popped up on the right to provide the assist.
The Haitian clipped a low cross along the six-yard line and Danny Mullen nipped in to finish.
O’Sullivan, a loan acquisition from Blackpool, was proving Dundee’s liveliest player and he slipped Craig Curran through for a chance that was quickly snuffed out by Vaclav Hladky’s quickness off the line.
Although the breathless nature of the half seemed to be taking a toll on Nazon, his move into the centre provided a useful focal point from which Brad Lyons side-footed over before a stinging effort from Andres Dreyer was blocked.
Jackson was hauled off the naughty step to replace Nazon just in time to help his team-mates celebrate the winning goal.
Mihai Popescu swung a deadly cross-field pass onto the head of Dreyer at the back post and the Dane’s knock-on was an invitation for Lyons to nod home what could be a pivotal goal for the Paisley club.
Lyons deserved his moment. Saints’ new formation had asked a lot of the on-loan Blackburn midfielder but he and Ryan Flynn
were tireless in the centre of the pitch and did the running of three players.
With the away support starting to boo their own team, McIntyre made a couple of changes to try and reverse the flow, bringing on the experience of Kenny Miller and Paul McGowan — all to little effect.
Instead, a more relaxed St Mirren looked slicker in attack.
Lyons had a decent crack for his second from 20 yards and, when Seny Dieng parried the ball away, Dreyer perhaps ought to have come up with something better than the header that saw the ball bounce over the bar.
Cody Cooke came on for a drained Mullen near the end and was only denied a goal by some desperate Dundee defending.
The last word went to MacKenzie. With Dundee mustering one last push, Nelson pulled the trigger and unleashed a shot that might have caused Hladky a problem had the big defender not thrown himself in the way.
It was a big intervention on what may prove to be a landmark day.