After fifth straight loss, Jim needs luck of the Irish
ST MIRREN 0 KILMARNOCK 1 Kabamba (28) St Mirren boss Jim Goodwin is refusing to panic despite his side suffering five straight defeats.
The Buddies are propping up the Premiership and turned in a disappointing showing at home to Kilmarnock.
Goodwin will have to turn the club’s fortunes round quickly because the club’s directors have high expectations for this season.
He believes things will change once he gets some of his injured players back.
“Every club will go through a run at some stage like this,” he said.
“It’s our own fault. We just need to stick together, it’s too easy to panic.
“We’ve had a lot of disruption. I don’t think there’s any getting away from that.
“People shoot me down, saying I’m looking for excuses, but we haven’t been able to get our best players out there.
“When we did that at the start of the season we got results.
“Then we get suspensions and lost our goalie – it impacts on the pitch.
“Sam Foley has now picked up an injury and I’m desperate to get a full squad back.”
This is an Irishman hoping for a rub of the green to alter his team’s fortunes.
He added: “We’re not getting any kind of breaks and hopefully the luck will change.
“Sometimes there’s not a great deal between two teams.
“You just need the half chance, but we don’t seem to be getting them.
“The run is disappointing but I have every confidence we can turn it around.”
This game reinforced the notion that sport is suffering during the ongoing pandemic.
It’s a miserable thought that spectators might be locked out for the entire duration of the season.
Fans are missing football and football is missing the fans.
Games sailing along in a mediocre fashion are often livened up by shouts of encouragement from the stands.
Even howls of abuse can sometimes fire up the players.
The players performed with an understandable tension, particularly in the first half.
Coaches are constantly barking instructions, imploring their players to keep the team shape.
Some quite like receiving clear instructions from the boss, but many seem a little inhibited by hearing every shout.
It’s a bit like schoolkids not wanting to be too flamboyant in case they upset the teacher.
St Mirren were often pinned back by Kilmarnock’s passing game for most of the first 45 minutes, despite Goodwin imploring his men to push up and press the ball.
They did, however, create the first two attempts on goal.
Durmus sent a shot just past the post when Saints broke and Erwin’s header from a corner skimmed the visitors’ crossbar.
Killie took the lead with a goal of great simplicity.
Chris Burke raced down the right wing and Nicke Kababma flicked his low cross past Alnwick.
Joe Shaughnessy had a chance to equalise when a corner kick popped out of Rogers’ gloves but his effort was too high.
The home side brought on Obika and Sheron at half-time and their presence resulted in the ball spending a little more time in the Killie half.
They pushed up but failed to come up with the deliveries needed to create clear-cut openings.
It wasn’t until the last few minutes when the Kilmarnock defence looked a little ragged, but Saints’ effort was too little, too late.